Preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) for the third quarter of 2016 indicate that the total hourly labour cost rose by 8.4% compared to the third quarter of 2015. The total hourly labour cost grew by 8.5% in industry, by 7.7% in services and by 5.0% in construction.

The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growths in total labour costs were recorded in ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ - 19.6%, ‘Human health and social work activities’ - 10.3% and ‘Real estate activities’ - 10.2%. The lowest increase in total labour costs was observed in ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ by 0.8%, ‘Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities’ by 1.9% and ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ - 4.6%.

In the structure of the total labour costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 8.3% in comparison with a year earlier, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 8.8%. Among the economic activities in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the third quarter of 2015 the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from 1.0% in ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ to 19.9% in ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’.