In the euro area, hourly wage and salary costs rose 3.4 per cent while non-wage costs increased 2.9 per cent. Across the EU, wage costs climbed 3.7 per cent and non-wage costs advanced 3.2 per cent, Eurostat said in a press release.
Hourly labour costs increased 3.2 per cent year on year in the euro area and 3.6 per cent in the EU in Q1 2026, driven by higher wage and non-wage expenses.
Construction recorded the strongest growth among major sectors, while Hungary, Bulgaria, and Croatia posted the largest increases in hourly wage costs across member states, Eurostat reported.
By sector, labour costs in the euro area rose 3.3 per cent in industry, 4.1 per cent in construction and 3.1 per cent in services. In the EU, construction recorded the strongest increase at 4.2 per cent, followed by industry at 3.6 per cent and services at 3.4 per cent.
Among EU member states, the sharpest increases in hourly wage costs were recorded in Hungary at 16.4 per cent, Bulgaria at 13.2 per cent and Croatia at 9.2 per cent. The smallest increases were seen in Malta at 1.3 per cent, France at 1.8 per cent, and both Denmark and Latvia at 2.5 per cent.
At the industry level, mining and quarrying posted the highest growth in hourly wage costs across the EU at 5.7 per cent, followed by real estate activities and other service activities at 4.8 per cent each. Construction and education both registered increases of 4.4 per cent. Professional, scientific and technical activities recorded the lowest wage-cost growth at 1.0 per cent.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (CG)
