Total hourly labor costs in Bulgaria rose by 7.7 percent y-o-y in the first three months of 2016, according to preliminary data published by the National Statistics Institute. Total hourly labor costs grew by 8.6 percent in the industrial sector, 7 percent for services and by 8.4 percent in construction.
The highest annual increases in total labor costs were reported for administrative and support service activities (14.5 percent), wholesale and retail trade (11.5 percent), repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (11.5 percent) and manufacturing (11.4 percent). The lowest increase in total labor costs were reported for water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (0.7 percent) as well as for mining and quarrying (2.8 percent). A decrease in total labor costs were reported for accommodation and food service activities (-6.3 percent) and electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (2.1 percent).
