In the 4th quarter of 2024, the Labour Cost Index (LCI) recorded a year-on-year increase of 9.6%. In the previous quarter, it had increased 8.7%.

The wage costs (per hour actually worked) increased by 9.6%, and the other labour costs (also per hour actually worked) increased by 9.5%, compared with the same period of the previous year.

The year-on-year change of the LCI resulted also from the combined effect of the increase of 6.0% in the average cost per employee and the decrease of 3.3% in the number of hours actually worked per employee. The increase of the average cost per employee was common to all economic activities, with higher increases in Public Administration (6.9%) and smaller in Services (5.1%). With the exception of Public Administration, where the increase was higher, the remaining activities recorded lower increases than those observed in the preceding quarter. The hours actually worked per employee decreased in all economic activities, as in the previous quarter. The largest decrease was observed in Construction (6.0%) and the lowest in Public Administration (2.5%). As a result of these variations, the LCI increased in all economic activities, with the largest increase being recorded in Construction (13.4%).

In 2024, the LCI increased by 8.2%, corresponding to increases of 8.2% in wage costs and 8.1% in other labour costs. The average cost per employee increased by 6.4% and the number of hours actually worked per employee decreased by 1.6%.