Press release No.476 / 2009-12-09

3rd quarter of 2009: No further rise in labour costs

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), labour costs per hour worked in the third quarter of 2009 did not continue their seasonally and calendar-adjusted increase in industry and the service sector (–0.0% on the second quarter of 2009). Before, they had shown marked quarter-on-quarter increases in the context of the economic crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008 (+2.3%) and in the first quarter of 2009 (+1.9%), while in the second quarter of 2009 that increase had already been smaller (+0.6%).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, however, a marked impact of the economic crisis can still be observed. In the third quarter of 2009, employers paid a calendar-adjusted 4.8% more for one hour worked than in the third quarter of 2008. That was the third highest year-on-year increase since the labour cost index was first calculated in 1997. What is important for employers is not only labour costs but also the number of hours worked by employees. Although, at the beginning of the economic crisis, labour costs remained nearly unchanged, the employees worked and produced less as overtime hours on working time accounts were reduced and short-time work was extended. From the employers’ point of view, this made the production factor of labour more expensive.

As additional data sources had become available, the results of the labour cost index were revised back to the first quarter of 2009. The calendar-adjusted labour cost growth rate for the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same quarter of the previous year was revised from +5.3% to +5.8% and from +4.8% to +5.7% for the second quarter of 2009.

For the whole of Europe, rates of change of labour costs in the private sector are available for the second quarter of 2009. According to those results, the price of one hour worked in Germany rose a calendar-adjusted 6.5% compared with the second quarter of 2008. As was the case in the previous two quarters, the decreasing number of hours worked led to a relatively large increase in labour costs. In the second quarter of 2009, Germany had one of the highest growth rates within the European Union. Only Greece (+6.6%), Hungary (+7.1%), Romania (+11.7%) and Bulgaria (+15.5%) recorded larger increases 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 second quarter of 2009 (+3.7%) was smaller than in Germany. This is due to low growth rates in other European countries. For example, labour costs in Lithuania (–6.2%) and Estonia (–0.6%) decreased. In the large countries of France (+0.7%) and the United Kingdom (+0.9%), labour costs rose just slightly. For the second quarter of 2009, data from 22 of the 27 European Union 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).

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

E-mail: arbeitskosten@destatis.de

Labour cost indices
Industry and service branches
in Germany
Year, quarter		Index of labour costs, total	Index of gross wages and salaries	Index of non-wage costs
Change on the previous year in % ¹⁾
¹⁾ Calendar-adjusted, Census X-12-ARIMA ²⁾ Calendar and seasonally adjusted, Census X-12-ARIMA
2003		2.3	2.1	2.9
2004		1.0	1.3	0.2
2005		0.4	0.6	–0.4
2006		1.1	1.1	1.0
2007		0.7	1.5	–1.6
2008		2.6	2.7	2.4
Change on the same quarter a year earlier in % ¹⁾
2008	1st quarter	1.9	2.5	0.0
	2nd quarter	1.9	1.8	2.3
	3rd quarter	2.2	2.1	2.3
	4th quarter	4.3	4.2	4.7
2009	1st quarter	5.8	5.4	7.0
	2nd quarter	5.7	5.4	6.5
	3rd quarter	4.8	4.7	5.4
Change on the previous quarter in % ²⁾
2008	1st quarter	0.7	0.6	0.8
	2nd quarter	0.7	0.5	1.4
	3rd quarter	0.7	0.7	0.5
	4th quarter	2.3	2.4	2.1
2009	1st quarter	1.9	1.7	2.7
	2nd quarter	0.6	0.5	0.9
	3rd quarter	–0.0	0.1	–0.4

Labour cost indices
for industry
in national currencies
Position of computations: 2nd 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 2nd quarter of 2009 on a year earlier ¹⁾	Change in the 2nd 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 Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were not available. Data on Finlandare confidential but are included in the averages. ⁴⁾ Provisional data. - no information available. Source: Eurostat Online Database of 26 November 2009.
European Union ³⁾	3.7	35.4	35.0	37.1
Euro area ³⁾	4.0	29.4	28.9	30.9
Belgium ⁴⁾	5.0	33.5	32.6	36.7
Bulgaria ⁴⁾	15.5	120.2	152.8	37.6
Denmark	3.1	35.8	29.4	90.1
Germany	6.5	21.4	22.4	18.2
Estonia	–0.6	160.3	156.5	173.8
France	0.7	29.7	27.9	33.9
Greece	6.6	38.9	36.7	45.4
Latvia ⁴⁾	4.1	233.7	234.4	226.0
Lithuania	–6.2	108.8	104.1	121.6
Malta ⁴⁾	0.3	30.1	30.9	23.1
Austria ⁴⁾	5.3	28.7	31.0	22.6
Poland	6.1	81.6	80.4	86.4
Portugal ⁴⁾	4.8	32.4	30.8	34.2
Romania ⁴⁾	11.7	455.0	524.0	307.4
Sweden ⁴⁾	2.2	–	–	–
Slovakia ⁴⁾	3.2	99.8	–	84.4
Slovenia ⁴⁾	5.8	85.1	91.8	53.0
Spain ⁴⁾	6.0	49.5	45.4	62.3
Czech Republic	2.8	85.4	86.2	83.4
Hungary ⁴⁾	7.1	115.0	125.2	90.8
United Kingdom ⁴⁾	0.9	46.2	44.6	57.9
Cyprus ⁴⁾	4.4	54.3	53.9	56.2

For more details please refer to the German version.

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