The cost of each hour worked has skyrocketed 6% in the second half of the year, in relation to the same period of the previous year, well above the 0.1% recorded in the first three months of 2019 and thus signing its highest rise since 2009.

All sectors of activity have raised their costs, according to the data made public by the INE, but the greatest increases have been registered in professions related to artistic activities (with an increase of 8.7%), real estate (with another 8.7%) and in the Public Administration sector (8.6%).

On the other hand, the financial and insurance activities have been the ones that have seen the least time worked in the second half of the year (0.6%), followed by the Hospitality (2.4%) and energy supply ( 3.4%)

The price increase reflected by the Harmonized Labor Cost Index (ICLA) in the second quarter of this year is the most pronounced in the last decade. Only in the same period of 2009, with an increase of 9%, the level of 6% registered this year was exceeded.

One of the reasons that have influenced the increase in labor costs this year has been the incidence of Holy Week. This year has fallen in the second quarter and last year, a part of it did in the first. Therefore, in the same period of 2018, according to the INE, a smaller number of hours worked were recorded.

Without counting this incidence and the seasonal and calendar effects are eliminated, the annual variation of the cost per hour worked in the second semester would remain at 3.1%, still and all well above that experienced in the first three months of the year , and chaining ten consecutive months of rise.

The weight of the new SMI

The weight of wages in labor costs climbed 5.7% year-on-year between April and June. Without counting extraordinary payments and arrears, the increase in labor cost was 6.2%.

Has the increase to 900 euros of the Minimum Salary influenced this rise in labor cost? Undoubtedly, yes. This is believed, for example, by the UGT union that interprets this trend as a "positive" step towards wage recovery.

A reality, according to the union, "more in line with the long stage of growth that Spain has been going through since 2014 and with the high profit margins that companies have obtained for years."

For UGT, these results have influenced, without a doubt, the increase in the minimum wage to 900 euros in 2019, as well as the signing in July 2018 of the IV Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC) .

The union believes, according to the Europa Press agency, that this is so because the high precarious employment has generated insufficient hours worked that make the salary that reaches the homes is still "very low."

"Temporality, rotation and involuntary part-time have been exacerbated in recent years and determine that the effective salary paid by salaried persons is very low," he added.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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