Calendar-adjusted data comprised 7.1%.
According to seasonally unadjusted data, hourly labor costs increased in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the fourth quarter of 2019 in all sectors except electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, where they fell by 3.3 % over the year. The fastest growth was in other service activities (including activities of public, political and other organizations, repair of personal and household goods, dry-cleaning, hairdressing, beauty care, funeral and other services) - by 18.1 % and in health and social work - by 15.2 %.
Hourly labour costs were affected not only by changes in the level and structure of wages, salaries and other labour costs, but also by the fluctuations over the year in the number of hours worked and the number of employees.
Affected by the emergency situation declared due to COVID-19 pandemic, hourly labor costs in the fourth quarter were most affected by the drop of hours worked because of the downtime, dismissed employees and change in workloads. The reduction in hours worked is observed in all sectors except mining, information and communication services, public administration, education and health, as well as social work.
In the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector labor costs declined faster than hours worked, while in the health sector there was a sharp rise in wages and salaries. The smallest increase in hourly labor costs was recorded in public administration (0.7 %), financial and insurance activities (2.3 %) and real estate (4.0 %).
In the fourth quarter of 2020, the highest hourly labor costs were recorded in the financial and insurance activities sector (EUR 18.35) and in information and communication services (EUR 16.87).
In turn, the lowest hourly labor costs were recorded in the accommodation and catering sector (EUR 7.30), education (EUR 8.38) and real estate (EUR 8.41). .
