The growth in hourly labour costs (comprising wage and non-wage costs paid by employers) slowed down to 3.4% y/y in the second quarter of 2013 from 4.7% y/y in Q1, according to preliminary calendar-adjusted data by the statistics office. Non-wage costs rose 4.7% y/y, thus once again outpacing the increase in wage expenses, which climbed 3.2% y/y.
In quarterly terms, the seasonally adjusted average costs of employers in Bulgaria inched up 0.9%, with non-wage labour expenses advancing by 1.2% q/q and wage expenses - by 0.9% q/q.
Labour costs in industry ticked up 0.2% q/q, outpaced by the 0.7% quarterly increase recorded in the services sector. Employment in education, construction and retail sales was 2.5% more expensive in Q2 than in the previous quarter. On the other hand, labour costs in real state fell 5.1% q/q, followed by a quarterly decline of 4.7% in the culture and entertainment sectors.
This Southeast Europe Outlook 2024 has been prepared by bne IntelliNews as part of a series of annual reviews providing updates on the geopolitical, macroeconomic and commercial state of ... more
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Union, and ILX Management, an emerging market asset manager, have joined forces to enhance private-sector finance in Emerging ... more
Momentum is building behind calls for the EU to impose a ban on Russian LNG, even though doing so could make it harder for the bloc to stock up on gas supplies before next winter. The EU has ... more