Greece registered the largest annual decrease in hourly labour costs among the Euro countries, declining by 6.8%, Eurostat said in a statement.
Hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 2.6% in the year up to the first quarter of 2011, compared with 1.5% for the previous quarter.
The two main components of labour costs are wages & salaries and non-wage costs. In the euro area, wages & salaries per hour worked grew by 2.3% in the year up to the first quarter of 2011, and the non-wage component by 3.6%, compared with 1.4% and 1.8% respectively for the fourth quarter of 2010.
CAPITAL
