In the third quarter of 2021, the hourly labor costs in Estonia rose by 8% YoY, whereas the corresponding growth was 2.5% in the euro area and 2.9% in the European Union.
In the second quarter, hourly labor costs increased by 0.5% in the EU and by 5.1% in Estonia, according to figures published by Eurostat. Meanwhile, in the euro area, the costs declined by 0.1%.
The two main components of labor costs are wages and salaries and non-wage costs. In the euro area, the costs of wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 2.3%, while the non-wage component rose by 3% in the third quarter of 2021 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the EU, the costs of hourly wages and salaries increased by 2.8% and the non-wage component by 3.3%.
In Estonia, the costs of hourly wages and salaries grew by 8.1%, while the non-wage component increased by 7.6%.
The fastest annual growth rate of labor costs was in the third quarter in Lithuania, by 15.2%, followed by Czechia and Hungary with 13.7% and 10%, respectively. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
