The average labor cost per worker and month (which includes salaries and social contributions) amounted to 2,664.55 euros in the second quarter, representing a 2.4% rebound compared to the same period of 2018, the highest increase in almost ten years, as reported on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With this year-on-year increase, labor cost chains eight consecutive quarters in positive. The second quarter of 2019 has been the largest year-on-year increase since the fourth quarter of 2019, when labor costs advanced 2.5%.

The labor cost is made up of the salary cost and the other costs. Between April and June, the salary cost (which includes all wages, both in cash and in kind) stood at 1,992.18 euros per worker and month, up 2.1%, the highest year-on-year increase since the end of 2013 . With this year-on-year increase, wages also chain eight consecutive quarters of year-on-year increases.

Excluding the variable factor of wages (extraordinary and late payments), the ordinary salary cost is obtained, which in the second quarter advanced 2.2%, to 1,683.4 euros per month.

The other costs (non-salary costs) reached 672.37 euros in the second quarter, with an interannual increase of 3.4%. The most important component of the other costs are mandatory Social Security contributions, which totaled 618.87 euros, 3.9% more than in the second quarter of 2018.

The second important element of the other costs is non-salary perceptions, which decreased 1.6% year-on-year, mainly due to the decrease in severance pay and other non-salary perceptions (work clothes, compensatory payments, compensation at the end of the contract, small tools, etc.).

On the other hand, subsidies and bonuses, also included in the other costs, fell 1% year-on-year in the second quarter.

The INE also provides corrected calendar and seasonally adjusted data for this statistic. According to this series, the labor cost per worker rose 2.4% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019, also linking eight months of year-on-year increases.

In quarterly rate (second quarter over first quarter), and eliminating both the effect of calendar and seasonality, the total labor cost per worker rose 0.6%, compared to the quarterly advance of 0.8% experienced in the previous quarter.

SERVICES RECORDS THE LARGEST RISE OF SALARIES

According to the INE, the services sector led the largest increase in total labor cost in the second quarter, 2.7% year-on-year, to 2,563.63 euros per worker and month. It is followed by the industry , with a rebound of 1.8%, up to 3,191 euros, and construction, with an increase of 1.5%, to 2,760 euros.

In the case of wages, the largest year-on-year increase was also recorded by services (+ 2.3%), up to 1,924.7 euros per month, followed by industry and construction, both with advances of 1.4% which They placed their salaries at an average of 2,373 and 1,987 euros per month, respectively.

In the second quarter, the highest ordinary salary corresponded to the industry (1,946.79 euros per worker and month), 1.1% more than in the same period of 2018, followed by services, with 1,640 euros (+2 , 6%), and construction, with 1,636.71 euros, 1.5% more than in the same period of 2018.

BUT HOSPITALITY CONTINUES TO PAY THE LOWEST PAYS

Due to economic activities, energy supply, financial activities and extractive industries have the highest labor costs, with 6,726 euros, 5,080 euros and 4,142 euros per worker and month, respectively, while the minors correspond to the hospitality industry (1,590.65 euros), other services (1,767 euros) and administrative activities (1,831 euros).

The most significant interannual growth in labor costs in the second quarter was recorded by artistic activities (+ 7.8%), real estate activities (+ 7.3%) and education (+ 5.6%). On the other hand, the only falls were recorded in financial activities, where labor costs fell 1.3% year-on-year, and in extractive industries, with a decrease of 0.2%.

MADRID AND BASQUE COUNTRY HAVE THE HIGHEST EARNINGS

By autonomous communities, the highest labor costs were recorded by Madrid (3,121.4 euros per worker and month), the Basque Country (3,051.3 euros), Catalonia (2,874.6 euros), Navarra (2,869.2 euros) and Asturias ( 2,789.1 euros), while the lowest were in Extremadura (2,231.6 euros) and the Canary Islands (2,256.2 euros).

The two leading communities, Madrid and the Basque Country, exceed the national average by more than 350 euros (2,664.5 euros), while the last two, Extremadura and the Canary Islands, are more than 350 euros below.

34.2 HOUR WEEKLY DAY

The average day agreed in the second quarter was 34.2 hours a week, although the day actually worked was 30 hours after deducting the hours lost from half a week (4.4 hours, half for holidays and holidays ) and add overtime.

The labor cost per effective hour rose 5.9% year-on-year, to 20.43 euros, as a result of the lower number of hours actually worked for Holy Week. If this effect and the calendar effect are eliminated, the cost per hour rebound is estimated at 3.1%.

Depending on the type of working day, the salary difference between full-time and part-time workers is 5.05 euros per hour, with 16.02 euros per hour for the former (+ 5.5%), and 10.97 euros for the seconds (+ 6.5%).

Full-time workers perform 33.9 hours of effective work per week, compared to 18.1 hours for part-time workers, with a difference, therefore, greater than 15 hours.

THE GREATEST VACANCIES SINCE 2013

The INE has also reported that in the second quarter the record of job vacancies was broken since this information began to be published, in 2013. Specifically, between April and June 107,531 vacancies were registered, understood as the job created recently or that he is not busy or that he is about to be free and for which the employer is taking active measures to find a candidate outside the company.

Of these, 89.1% belonged to the services sector (95,765 vacancies), 7% to industry (7,554) and 3.9% to construction (4,212).

Madrid and Catalonia concentrate the largest number of vacancies (25,122 and 22,827, respectively), while La Rioja and Extremadura have the lowest figures, with 901 and 1,037 vacancies, respectively.

The INE points out that most of the companies asked, specifically 93.1%, stated that there were no vacancies to be filled because they did not need additional workers for the period April-June 2019.

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Know more

  • Madrid
  • Canary Islands
  • Catalonia
  • Estremadura
  • Basque Country
  • Social Security
  • Navarre
  • The Rioja
  • Asturias

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