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Labour costs growing strongly in Central- and Eastern Europe

Romania leading with +13.9%, followed by Baltic countries

15 December, 14:30
(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 15 DIC - Amid concerns of a growing problem with labour shortage due to demographics and emigration, several countries in Central- and Eastern Europe are experiencing a strong rise in labour costs.

Official data from Eurostat show that hourly labour costs for the whole economy rose by 13.9% in Romania in the third quarter of 2018, compared with the same quarter of 2017.

High annual increases were registered also in Latvia (+13.2%) and Lithuania (+10.7%), but also in Hungary (+9.0%), Bulgaria (+8.9%), in the Czech Republic (+8.5%), Estonia (+8.2%), Croatia (+7.6%), Poland (+6.7%) and Slovakia (+6.9%).

At the EU level, hourly labour costs rose by 2.7% in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period of 2017, Eurostat said. The two main components of labour costs are wages & salaries and non-wage costs, the EU statistical office noted. (ANSA).

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