Press release No.311 / 2010-09-08

Labour costs in the 2nd quarter of 2010: +0.4% on the previous quarter

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), a seasonally and calendar adjusted increase of 0.4% was recorded for labour costs per hour worked in Germany in the second quarter of 2010 against the first quarter. In the same period, the costs of gross wages and salaries were up 0.4% and non-wage costs 0.1%. Compared with the second quarter of 2009, labour costs increased a calendar-adjusted 0.5% in the second quarter of 2010.

The growth of labour costs was largest in the economic sectors of financial and insurance activities (+5.2%), mining (+3.5%), and electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (+3.5%) in the second quarter of 2010 as compared with the second quarter of 2009. In contrast, labour costs fell most markedly in arts, entertainment and recreation (–1.1%), real estate activities (–0.5%), transportation and storage, and in other service activities (–0.4%, respectively).

For the whole of Europe, rates of change of labour costs in the private sector are available for the first quarter of 2010. According to those results, the price of one hour worked in Germany rose a calendar-adjusted 0.7% compared with the first quarter of 2009. In the first quarter of 2010, the average increase in labour costs in the European Union (+2.2%) was higher than in Germany. The highest growth rates were recorded for Bulgaria (+10.5%), Romania (+7.4%), Slovenia (+4.5%) and the United Kingdom (+4.4%). In contrast, labour costs fell most markedly in Lithuania (–11.0%), Latvia (–7.2%) and Estonia (–5.5%). Data are available for 21 of the 27 Member States of the European Union for the first quarter of 2010. 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.

These data are based on the results of the labour cost index. The labour cost index measures the change in labour costs and, additionally, shows labour costs in a breakdown by their main components, that is gross wages and salaries as well as non-wage costs. In all three indices, the costs borne by employers are compared with the hours actually worked by employees.

When the data of the 2008 labour cost survey were available, the results of the labour cost index were revised from the first quarter of the year 2000. In the last four quarters the calendar-adjusted growth rate of the labour cost index was revised as follows: second quarter of 2009: from +3.4% to +3.5%, third quarter of 2009: from +2.7% to +3.0%, fourth quarter of 2009: from +0.4% to +0.6% and first quarter of 2010: from +1.0% to +0.6%, all changes against the same quarter of the preceding year.

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	0.1
2005		0.2	0.9	–2.0
2006		0.9	1.4	–0.5
2007		0.7	1.8	–3.0
2008		2.5	3.1	0.8
2009		2.7	2.4	3.7
Change on the same quarter a year earlier in % ¹⁾
2008	1st quarter	2.1	3.4	–2.1
	2nd quarter	2.2	2.7	0.7
	3rd quarter	1.9	2.1	1.3
	4th quarter	3.8	4.0	3.1
2009	1st quarter	3.9	3.6	5.1
	2nd quarter	3.5	3.2	4.4
	3rd quarter	3.0	2.9	3.2
	4th quarter	0.6	0.2	2.1
2010	1st quarter	0.6	0.4	1.4
2010	2nd quarter	0.5	0.4	1.0
Change on the previous quarter in % ²⁾
2008	1st quarter	0.7	1.0	–0.3
	2nd quarter	0.7	0.5	1.3
	3rd quarter	0.2	0.0	0.7
	4th quarter	2.3	2.5	1.5
2009	1st quarter	0.7	0.4	1.5
	2nd quarter	0.3	0.2	0.5
	3rd quarter	–0.3	–0.2	–0.4
	4th quarter	–0.0	–0.2	0.5
2010	1st quarter	0.5	0.5	0.7
2010	2nd quarter	0.4	0.4	0.1

Index of total labour costs
by economic sectors
2nd quarter of 2010
Economic sector	Index level ¹⁾	Change on the same quarter of the previous year ²⁾	Change on the previous quarter ¹⁾
Economic sector	2008 = 100	%
¹⁾ Calendar and seasonally adjusted, Census X-12-ARIMA ²⁾ Calendar-adjusted, Census X-12-ARIMA
Industry and services	103.6	0.5	0.4
Private sector	103.2	0.7	0.4
Industry	103.0	0.2	–0.2
Mining	109.4	3.5	1.1
Manufacturing	102.8	0.0	–0.2
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply	106.7	3.5	4.6
Water supply	104.4	1.5	1.1
Construction	103.0	0.5	–1.7
Services	103.8	0.8	0.6
Market service sectors	103.4	1.2	0.9
Wholesale and retail trade	102.7	0.9	0.3
Transportation and storage	103.0	–0.4	2.2
Accommodation	101.3	0.3	0.2
Information and communication	105.7	2.2	–1.0
Financial and insurance activities	104.1	5.2	3.9
Real estate activities	100.9	–0.5	–1.4
Professional, scientific and technical activities	103.5	0.5	1.6
Administrative and support service activities	103.5	–0.4	–0.7
Non-market services	104.4	0.2	0.3
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	105.5	0.5	0.4
Education	105.0	–0.1	0.1
Human health and social work activities	103.2	0.1	0.4
Arts, entertainment and recreation	102.4	–1.1	–0.8
Other service activities	104.1	1.5	1.1

Labour cost indices
for industry
in national currencies
Position of computations: 1st quarter of 2010
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 2010 on a year earlier ¹⁾	Change in the 1st quarter of 2010 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 and Ireland were not available. Data on Denmark, Greece and Italy are confidential but are included in the averages. ⁴⁾ Provisional data. Source: Eurostat Online Database of 30 August 2010.
European Union ³⁾	2.2	36.1	35.5	38.5
Euro area ³⁾	2.1	30.3	29.5	32.7
Bulgaria ⁴⁾	10.5	137.3	174.8	43.1
Germany	0.7	18.9	21.8	9.3
Estonia	–5.5	150.6	147.9	159.5
France	3.2	33.1	30.5	39.1
Latvia ⁴⁾	–7.2	206.5	217.2	186.2
Lithuania	–11.0	94.6	93.4	97.8
Luxembourg	2.1	36.4	39.1	29.6
Malta	0.1	31.7	31.9	26.0
Netherland ⁴⁾	0.5	37.3	33.5	54.8
Austria ⁴⁾	0.0	28.8	30.9	22.2
Poland	0.9	82.0	82.7	79.0
Portugal ⁴⁾	–0.2	29.7	29.9	33.8
Romania ⁴⁾	7.4	481.9	559.3	316.9
Sweden ⁴⁾	2.3	–	–	–
Slovakia	–0.5	99.7	106.0	83.7
Slovenia ⁴⁾	4.5	89.3	95.6	53.2
Spain ⁴⁾	2.0	50.5	46.7	63.8
Czech Republic	–3.1	80.1	82.6	74.0
Hungary ⁴⁾	–0.7	117.9	126.8	65.8
United Kingdom ⁴⁾	4.4	47.4	45.5	59.6
Cyprus ⁴⁾	1.7	56.6	55.3	62.9

>>> brief methodological description

Detailed information on the labour cost indices may also be called up free of charge via table 62421-0001 in the GENESIS-Online database.

Data for European comparisons 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

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

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