Malta: Wage costs drop for the first time in a year

Hourly labour costs grew by 0.8 percent in the second quarter this year in relation to the same period in 2019. The increase was the smallest compared with the previous four quarters. Eurostat figures show that the rise was driven mainly by non-wage components such as social contributions. Wage and salary costs registered a decrease of 0.1 percent year-on-year, the first time in the five quarters under review.

In the EU, labour costs swelled by 4.1 percent, the highest quarterly rise over the entire period. The wage component registered an increase of 5.3 percent while the non-wage component grew by 0.1 percent.

The highest rise in wage and salary in the EU was observed in Accommodation and Food Service activities (+13.5%), followed by Arts, entertainment, and recreation activities (+12.5%). At the same time, however, the two economic sectors also registered the highest decreases in non-wage costs, with a drop of 20.2 percent in Accommodation and Food Service activities and of 15.2 percent in Arts, entertainment, and recreation activities.