Press release No.330 / 2009-09-08

2nd quarter of 2009: labour costs per hour rise 5.2%

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), employers in industry and in the service sector paid a calendar-adjusted 5.2% more for one hour worked in the second quarter of 2009 than in the second quarter of 2008. Following an increase by 5.7% in the first quarter of 2009, that is the second highest rise in a year-on-year comparison since the labour cost index time series began to be calculated in 1997. Against the preceding quarter, however, labour costs were up only a seasonally and calendar-adjusted 0.3% and thus rose markedly slower than in the fourth quarter of 2008 (+2.4%) and in the first quarter of 2009 (+1.6%).

What is important for the rates of change of the labour cost index is not only the trend of labour costs but also that of hours worked: The labour costs borne by the employers are compared with the hours worked by the employees. In the context of decreasing production, overtime hours on working time accounts were reduced in the second quarter of 2009 and short-time work was extended. This made the production factor of labour more expensive when put in relation to hours worked and output achieved. Manufacturing was particularly affected by that trend. There, labour costs per hour worked rose 7.6% on the same quarter a year earlier and unit labour costs increased 24.3%.

For the whole of Europe, rates of change of labour costs in the private sector are available for the first quarter of 2009. According to those results, the price of one hour worked in Germany rose a calendar-adjusted 6.5% compared with the first quarter of 2008. As was the case in fourth quarter of 2008, the decreasing number of hours worked led to a relatively large increase in labour costs. In the first quarter of 2009, Germany had one of the highest growth rates within the European Union. Only the five Eastern European countries of Slovakia (+7.7%), the Czech Republic (+8.0%), Latvia (+8.0%), Bulgaria (+18.6%) and Romania (+18.6%) recorded a larger increase in labour costs. Up to then, however, Germany had always had one of the lowest growth rates since 2001.

In the European Union, the average rise in labour costs in the first quarter of 2009 (+1.5%) was markedly smaller than in Germany. This is due to lower growth rates in other European countries. For example, labour costs in the United Kingdom (–5.5%), Greece (–3.3%) and France (–0.6%) were down. For the first quarter of 2009, data from 22 of the 27 European member states are available. The rates of change of labour costs in countries outside the euro area are measured in the relevant national currencies and, consequently, are not currency-adjusted.

>>> brief methodological description

More detailed information on the labour cost index may also be called up free of charge via table 62421-0001 in the GENESIS-Online data base.

Data for comparisons across Europe are provided by the European Data Service (EDS).

Labour cost indices
Industry and selected service branches
in Germany
Year, quarter		Index of labour costs, total	Index of gross wages and salaries	Index of non-wage costs
¹⁾ Calendar-adjusted, Census X-12-ARIMA ²⁾ Calendar and seasonally adjusted, Census X-12-ARIMA
		Change on the previous year in % ¹⁾
2003		2,5	2,1	2,9
2004		0,5	1,3	0,2
2005		0,6	0,7	–0,4
2006		0,3	1,1	1,0
2007		0,3	1,5	–1,6
2008		2,7	2,6	2,4
		Change on the same quarter a year earlier in % ¹⁾
2008	1st quarter	1,1	2,5	0,0
	2nd quarter	2,2	1,8	2,3
	3rd quarter	2,5	2,1	2,3
	4th quarter	4,7	4,1	4,6
2009	1st quarter	5,7	4,9	6,7
2009	2nd quarter	5,2	4,4	6,2
		Change on the previous quarter in % ²⁾
2008	1st quarter	0.7	0.7	0.8
	2nd quarter	0.8	0.6	1.4
	3rd quarter	0.5	0.5	0.5
	4th quarter	2.4	2.4	2.0
2009	1st quarter	1.6	1.3	2.5
2009	2nd quarter	0.3	0.1	0.8

Labour cost indices
for industry
in national currencies
Position of computations: 1st quarter of 2009
Member states of the European Union	Index of labour costs, total	Index of labour costs, total	Index of gross wages and salaries	Index of non-wage costs
	Change in the 1st quarter of 2009 on a year earlier ¹⁾	Change in the 1st quarter of 2009 compared with the annual average of the year 2000 ²⁾
	%
¹⁾ Calendar-adjusted applying national methods. ²⁾ Calendar and seasonally adjusted applying national methods. ³⁾ Data for Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands were not available. Data on Denmark are confidential but are included in the averages. ⁴⁾ Provisional data. Source: Eurostat Online Database of 31 August 2009.
European Union ³⁾	1.5	29.9	29.0	33.0
Euro area ³⁾	3.7	20.4	19.3	24.7
Bulgaria ⁴⁾	18.6	111.2	144.4	29.1
Germany	6.5	20.3	21.3	16.9
Estonia	3.7	159.3	156.8	169.4
France	–0.6	28.8	26.9	33.4
Greece	–3.3	16.2	16.0	22.2
Latvia ⁴⁾	8.0	225.0	226.7	213.8
Lithuania	2.9	120.8	115.6	133.5
Luxembourg	2.1	30.4	32.8	24.4
Malta ⁴⁾	2.3	31.2	31.5	22.5
Austria ⁴⁾	6.2	17.2	19.3	10.9
Poland	5.5	77.1	76.1	81.7
Portugal	2.4	13.3	12.7	15.5
Romania ⁴⁾	18.6	436.0	502.0	293.7
Sweden ⁴⁾	2.2	34.8	33.8	35.9
Slovakia	7.7	91.7	97.8	74.9
Slovenia ⁴⁾	5.9	76.0	82.7	44.8
Spain ⁴⁾	5.3	40.1	33.7	59.4
Czech Republic	8.0	82.9	81.4	81.8
Hungary	4.7	102.0	111.2	78.6
United Kingdom ⁴⁾	–5.5	53.3	50.8	71.1
Cyprus ⁴⁾	4.8	41.6	41.3	54.8

For further information please call:
Hannah Alter,
tel: (+49-611) 75-4589,

E-mail: arbeitskosten@destatis.de

For more details please refer to the German version.

Contact:
tel: (+49-611)75-3444
fax: (+49-611)75-3976
presse@destatis.de
www.destatis.de

Service hours:
Mon - Tue: 8am - 5pm
Fri: 8am - 3pm
CET / CEST

Postal address:
65180 Wiesbaden
Germany

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