Press release No.093 / 2010-03-11

Labour costs in the 4th quarter of 2009: -0.5% on the previous quarter

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), a seasonally and calendar adjusted decline of 0.5% was recorded for labour costs per hour worked in Germany in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the third quarter of the same year. Hence the trend observed in the third quarter of 2009 (–0.2%) continued. At the same time, the marked increase in labour costs stopped, which had been recorded at the beginning of the economic crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008 (+2.3) and the first quarter of 2009 (+1.4%).

Compared with the same quarter of the preceding year, that is the fourth quarter of 2008, calendar adjusted labour costs increased 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009, which was a considerably smaller increase than that observed during the previous four quarters when the growth rates of the labour cost index ranged between 4.3% and 5.3%. However, 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, the volume of labour costs remained nearly unchanged, employees worked and produced less as overtime hours on working time accounts were reduced and short-time work was extended. From an employer’s point of view, this made labour as a production factor more expensive. In 2009, labour costs per hour worked were up 4.1% on the previous year. This was the strongest rise recorded since the beginning of the time series in 1996.

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 first quarter of 2008 was revised from +5.8% to +5.3%, for the second quarter of 2009 from +5.7% to +5.3%, and for the third quarter of 2009 from +4.8% to +4.4%.

For the whole of Europe, rates of change of labour costs in the private sector are available for the third quarter of 2009. According to those results, the price of one hour worked in Germany rose a calendar-adjusted 4.1% compared with the third quarter of 2008. In the third quarter of 2009, the average increase in labour costs in the European Union (+3.1%) was smaller than in Germany. Between 2001 and 2008, Germany’s related growth rates were always among the smallest in the European Union. Like in the previous three quarters, the rather strong increase observed in Germany’s labour costs per hour worked was due to the declining number of hours worked as a result of the economic crisis. The highest growth rates were recorded in Greece (+11.2%), Bulgaria (+10.4%) and Romania (+9.6%). However, labour costs declined in Lithuania (–10.9%), Estonia (–4.3%) and the Netherlands (–0.8%). Data are available for 24 of the 27 Member States of the European Union for the third quarter of 2009. 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 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⁾
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
2009		4.1	3.6	5.5
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	5.3	4.8	6.8
	2nd quarter	5.3	4.9	6.7
	3rd quarter	4.4	4.0	5.6
	4th quarter	1.6	1.0	3.4
Change on the previous quarter in % ²⁾
2008	1st quarter	0.7	0.7	0.9
	2nd quarter	0.7	0.5	1.4
	3rd quarter	0.7	0.7	0.6
	4th quarter	2.3	2.4	2.0
2009	1st quarter	1.4	1.1	2.6
	2nd quarter	0.8	0.7	1.2
	3rd quarter	–0.2	–0.1	–0.4
	4th quarter	–0.5	–0.6	–0.1

Labour cost indices for private industry
in national currencies
Position of computations: 3rd 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 3rd quarter of 2009 on a year earlier ¹⁾	Change in the 3rd 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 Finland and Ireland were not available. Data on Italy are confidential but are included in the averages. ⁴⁾ Provisional data. - no information available. Source: Eurostat Online Database of 3rd March 2010.
European Union ³⁾	3.1	36.3	35.7	38.5
Euro area ³⁾	3.2	29.9	29.3	32.0
Belgium ⁴⁾	3.5	34.6	33.1	36.7
Bulgaria ⁴⁾	10.4	122.2	156.1	36.0
Denmark	2.6	36.3	29.3	96.2
Germany	4.1	20.2	21.0	17.2
Estonia	–4.3	154.2	150.7	166.1
France	1.1	31.5	29.2	36.8
Greece	11.2	40.3	38.4	48.0
Latvia ⁴⁾	–2.7	223.8	224.5	212.7
Lithuania	–10.9	97.7	95.1	105.2
Luxembourg	2.4	34.5	37.5	26.9
Malta ⁴⁾	0.4	29.6	30.2	23.0
Netherland ⁴⁾	–0.8	36.2	32.4	53.4
Austria ⁴⁾	4.4	28.9	30.9	23.0
Poland	3.3	81.7	80.4	86.6
Portugal ⁴⁾	4.9	34.0	33.5	36.3
Romania ⁴⁾	9.6	467.8	543.9	306.5
Sweden ⁴⁾	2.9	–	–	–
Slovakia ⁴⁾	1.9	99.7	105.9	83.3
Slovenia ⁴⁾	2.5	85.3	92.1	50.2
Spain ⁴⁾	4.7	49.7	45.0	62.9
Czech Republic	6.4	89.4	90.3	88.0
Hungary ⁴⁾	1.2	111.4	124.9	76.0
United Kingdom ⁴⁾	1.7	47.5	45.7	61.8
Cyprus ⁴⁾	3.3	55.2	54.8	58.7

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
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