Luxembourg, 10/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to figures released by Eurostat, the total hourly labour costs in the Euro-zone grew by 3.3% in nominal terms in the third quarter of 2001 compared to the same period the previous year. In the second quarter of 2001 the rise was 2.7%. For the E15 the rise was 3.5% in the third quarter, compared to 3.1% in the previous quarter. The smallest annual rise in costs was in Germany (2.4%) and the biggest in the Netherlands (5.0%).
In industry, hourly costs also rose by 3.3% in the Euro-zone and by 3.5% in the EU15. Available data demonstrates that the smallest annual rise in costs was in Germany (1.8%, while the biggest increase was registered in Italy (6.0%).
An analysis of labour costs indicates that in the third quarter of 2001, the highest increases in wages, which cover most of the total labour costs, was in Italy (4.7%) and the Netherlands (4.6%). Germany registered the smallest rise (2.3%).