(ANSA) - BRUSSELS - The labour costs in the second quarter of 2015, compared to the same quarter of 2014, rose by 1.6% in the EU-19 and by 1.9%. in the EU-28. In the first quarter of 2015, the increase was, respectively, 1.9% and 2.3%. These data were released by Eurostat. In Italy, the labour costs, on the contrary, have dropped by 0.4%: the only decrease in the EU, along with Greece (2.9%) and Cyprus (1.2%).

In Italy, this decrease is due to the non-wage component (social security and tax), down 1.1%, the biggest drop after the Netherlands (7.8%) and Cyprus (1.3%).

The most significant increases in labour costs have been recorded in Latvia (7.9%), Romania (7.7%), Bulgaria (6.8%), Estonia (5.5%) and Lithuania (4.3%). In the eurozone, an increase has been recorded especially in the wage component of labour costs (1.9%), while the non-wage component has grown just by 0.4%. (ANSA).