Hourly labour costs in Malta increased by the lowest rate in the EU in the last quarter of 2010, although there were three countries which actually saw a decline.

Figures issued by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, show that in the euro area (EA16), the hourly labour costs rose by 1.6% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with 0.9% for the previous quarter. In the EU27, the annual rise was 2.0% up to the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with 1.2% for the previous quarter.
The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries and non-wage costs.

In the euro area, wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 1.4% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2010, and the non-wage component by 1.9%, compared with 0.8% and 1.3% respectively for the third quarter of 2010.

In the EU27, hourly wages & salaries rose by 2.1% and the non-wage component by 1.5% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with 1.2% for both components for the third quarter of 2010.

The breakdown by economic activity shows that in the euro area hourly labour costs rose by 1.7% in industry, 1.1% in construction and 1.6% in services in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2010. In the EU27, labour costs per hour grew by 1.9% in industry, 1.0% in construction and 2.2% in services.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs were in Bulgaria (+7.6%) and Romania (+5.4%). There were decreases in Greece (-6.5%), Hungary (-2.3%) and Ireland (-1.2%)

The lowest increases were registered by Malta and Latvia, at 0.3%.