In the 1st quarter of 2025, the Labour Cost Index (LCI) recorded a year-on-year increase of 4.0%. In the previous quarter, it had increased 10.1%.

Both wage costs (per hour actually worked) and other labour costs (also per hour actually worked) increased by 4.0%, 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 5.4% in the average cost per employee and the increase of 1.5% 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 (5.8%) and lower in Services (5.0%). All the activities recorded smaller increases than those observed in the preceding quarter. The hours actually worked per employee increased in all economic activities, with the exception of Services, where it decreased by 0.1%. The largest increase was observed in Public Administration (3.1%) and the lowest in Construction (0.5%). As a result of these variations, the LCI increased in all economic activities, with the largest increase being recorded in Services (5.1%).