Labour costs continue to fall

By Annette Chrysostomou

CYPRUS is one of only five countries in the EU where labour costs have decreased in 2015 from the previous year.

“In the third quarter of 2015, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Latvia and Bulgaria (both +7.4 per cent), and Romania (+7.3 per cent),” a new report published by Eurostat on Thursday stated.

The biggest decreases were recorded in Portugal (-2.8 per cent), followed by Slovenia (-1.5 per cent) and Cyprus (-0.5 per cent), according to the survey. Italy and Luxembourg also had negative results.

The EU average is an increase in labour costs by 1.8 per cent in the third quarter compared to the same period the previous year.

In a separate report this week, Eurostat gave its estimates on the real agricultural income per worker in 2015 in relation to 2014.

According to the estimates, real agricultural income per worker in the EU will decrease by 4.3 per cent from last year.

In Cyprus, an increase of 0.7 per cent is expected. This result places Cyprus in the middle of the chart, while Germany is the worst affected with a fall of nearly 38 per cent, followed by Poland with around -24 per cent. The largest growth will be in Croatia, with 21.5 per cent.

However, there is still a drop in agricultural income in the longer run in Cyprus, down 7.2 per cent from 2010 to date.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.