In the first four months of 2013, annual growth in hourly labour costs rose to 1.6% in euro area and to 1.9% in EU27, according to Eurostat findings. Moreover, in April, the surplus of the international trade in goods was 14.9bn euro in the euro area and 9.2bn euro in the EU27.
More specific, in the EU27, the annual rise of hourly labour costs was 1.9% up to the first quarter of 2013, compared with 1.3% in the the fourth quarter of 2012. In particular, in the euro area, wages & salaries per hour worked grew by 1.7% and the non-wage component by 1.4% in the year up to the first quarter of 2013, compared with 1.4% and 0.9% respectively for the previous quarter. In the EU27, hourly wages & salaries rose by 2.0% and the non-wage component by 1.9% compared with 1.2% and 1.3% respectively for the fourth quarter of 2012.
As far as specific, fields are concerned, hourly labour costs rose by 3.3% in industry in the euro area and 3.4% in the EU27, 1.8% and 1.7% in construction, 1.3% and 1.7% in services and 0.9% and 1.4% in the mainly non-business economy respectively.
The highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Romania(+8.6%) and Estonia (+7.5%). Decreases were recorded in Slovenia(-3.8%), Spain (-0.7%), Cyprus (-0.5%) and Portugal (-0.3%).
Moreover, in April 2013, the first estimate for the euro area regarding trade in goods balance with the rest of the world gave a 14.9bn euro surplus, compared with +3.3bn in April 2012. In the EU27, the surplus was 9.2bn euro compared with -13.4bn in April 2012.
In addition, the EU27 deficit for energy decreased (-96.2bn euro in January-March 2013), while the surplus for manufactured goods increased (+91.1bn). Moreover, EU27 imports from most of its major partners fell in January-March 2013 except for Turkey(+3%). Furthermore, the EU27 trade surplus increased with the USA, Switzerland and Turkey and the trade deficit declined with China, Russia, Norway and Japan.
The largest surplus regarding trade was observed in Germany(+49.3bn), followed by the Netherlands(+15.1bn) and Ireland(+8.9bn). The United Kingdom (24.1bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by France (20.1bn),Greece(-5.3bn)and Spain(-4.7 bn).
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