September 19 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria recorded an annual growth in hourly wage costs of 14.6% in the April-June period, coming in a close second after Hungary with 14.9% among all member states in the EU, the bloc's statistical office said.
With 11.7%, Romania was one of four other EU countries, which posted an increase of over 10%, the other three being Lithuania with 12.4%, Poland with 11.1% and Estonia with 10.1%, Eurostat said in a press release last week.
In the second quarter of 2022, hourly labour costs rose by 4.4% in the EU on average against the comparable quarter of 2021.
Greece was the country where hourly wages increased the least year-on-year, by 0.8%, according to the data set.
In the EU on average, the hourly wages and salaries went up by 4.5% on the year in the review period, with the highest increase registered in mining and quarrying, of 6.9%, followed by administrative and support service activities, with 6.6%.
Wages and salaries are one of the two main components of labour costs, the other being non-wage costs, among which employers’ social contributions.
In terms of nominal labour costs for the whole economy in the second quarter, Bulgaria showed the EU's highest annual increase, or 14.4%. Overall hourly labour costs in Bulgaria in the three months through June grew the most in services, by 16.8%, followed by industry with 15.0% and construction with 11.5%, Eurostat data showed.