In the 2nd quarter of 2026, the Labour Cost Index (LCI) recorded a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. In the previous quarter, it had increased 5.3%.
The wage costs (per hour actually worked) increased by 5.4% and the other labour costs (also per hour actually worked) increased by 5.2%, compared with the same period of the previous year.
The year-on-year change of the LCI resulted also from the increase of 4.9% in the average cost per employee and the decrease of 0.4% 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 Construction (6.5%) and lower in Public Administration (4.4%). With the exception of Services, which presented an increase equal to that of the preceding quarter, the remaining activities recorded lower increases. The hours actually worked per employee decreased in all economic activities, with Services registering the highest reduction (-0.6%) and Industry and Construction the lowest (-0.1%). As a result of these variations, the LCI increased in all economic activities, with the largest increase being recorded in Construction (6.7%).
