Euro area annual inflation down to 0.7%, 0.1% in Cyprus while labor costs increased by 5.0% in 2019

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CNA

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Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 0.7% in March 2020, down from 1.2% in February according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in March (2.4%, compared with 2.1% in February), followed by services (1.3%, compared with 1.6% in February), non-energy industrial goods (0.5%, stable compared with February) and energy (-4.3%, compared with -0.3% in February).

More specifically in Cyprus โ€„inflations was 0.1% in March 2020, down from 1.0% in February 2020 and 1.1% in March 2019. In Greece inflation was 0.1% in March 2020, down from 0.4% in February 2020 and 1.0% in March 2019.

Meanwhile, in 2019, average hourly labour costs in the whole economy (excluding agriculture and public administration) were estimated to be โ‚ฌ27.7 in the European Union of 27 Member States (EU) and โ‚ฌ31.4 in the euro area.

In Greece the labour costs increased by 2.4% to โ‚ฌ16.4. In Cyprus the increase was 5.0%, to โ‚ฌ19.3 in 2019

The lowest hourly labour costs recorded in Bulgaria (โ‚ฌ6.0), Romania (โ‚ฌ7.7), Lithuania (โ‚ฌ9.4), Hungary and Latvia (both โ‚ฌ9.9), and the highest in Denmark (โ‚ฌ44.7), Luxembourg (โ‚ฌ41.6), Belgium (โ‚ฌ40.5), France (โ‚ฌ36.6), the Netherlands (โ‚ฌ36.4), Sweden (โ‚ฌ36.3), Germany (โ‚ฌ35.6) and Austria (โ‚ฌ34.7).

Hourly labour costs in industry were โ‚ฌ28.1 in the EU and โ‚ฌ34.1 in the euro area. In construction, they were โ‚ฌ24.8 and โ‚ฌ28.0, respectively. In services, hourly labour costs were โ‚ฌ27.5 in the EU and โ‚ฌ30.4 in the euro area. In the mainly non-business economy (excluding public administration), they were โ‚ฌ28.4 and โ‚ฌ31.8, respectively.

The share of non-wage costs in total labour costs for the whole economy was 25.1% in the EU and 25.6% in the euro area. It ranged from 5.3% in Lithuania to 32.9% in France.

In 2019, compared with previous year, hourly labour costs in the whole economy expressed in โ‚ฌ rose by 2.9% in the EU and by 2.5% in the euro area. Within the euro area, the largest increases were recorded in Slovakia (+7.8%), Estonia (+7.7%), and Latvia (+7.4%). Hourly labour costs increased least in Malta (+1.0%) and Finland (+1.4%).

For Member States outside the euro area in 2019, the largest increases in hourly labour costs in the whole economy, expressed in national currency, were observed in Romania (+13.1%) and Bulgaria (+11.7%). They increased least in Denmark (+1.9%) and Sweden (+2.2%).

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