Hourly labor costs in the Eurozone rose by 2.8% in 2011 up to the fourth quarter, compared with 2.6% for the previous quarter.

In the EU, the annual rise was 2.7% up to the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with 2.6% for the previous quarter.

The data were released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.

Among the Member States for which data are available for the fourth quarter of 2011, the highest annual increases in hourly labor costs were registered in Bulgaria – by 12.6%.

Bulgaria is followed by Romania (+8.6%), Estonia (+7.2%) and Hungary (+6.6%).

Decreases were recorded in Ireland and Portugal (both -1.7%) and Slovenia (-0.3%).

The two main components of labor costs are wages and salaries and non-wage costs. In the Eurozone, wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 2.5% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2011, and the non-wage component by 3.5%, compared with 2.4% and 3.1% respectively for the third quarter of 2011.

In the EU, hourly wages and salaries rose by 2.6% and the non-wage component by 3.5% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with 2.5% and 3.2% respectively for the third quarter of 2011.

The breakdown by economic activity shows that in the Eurozone hourly labor costs rose by 3.3% in industry and 2.6% in both construction and services in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2011.

In the EU, labor costs per hour grew by 3.2% in industry, 2.7% in construction and 2.5% in services.

Over the whole year 2011, hourly labor costs increased by 2.8% in the Eurozone and by 2.7% in the EU, compared with 1.5% and 1.7% respectively in 2010.