According to the INE, the two main components of labour costs - wages and other costs (per hour actually worked) - increased by 2.8 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year.
The year-on-year change in the index was also the result of a 1.4 percent increase in the average cost per worker and a 1.6 percent decrease in the number of hours actually worked per worker, said INE.
“The rise of the former component was across all activities, while the decrease of the latter component occurred essentially in activities in the sphere of the public sector,” said INE.
The most recent information available on the year-on-year change in the Labour Cost Index per Member State of the European Union is related to the first quarter of 2017 and was released by Eurostat on 16 June, with the year-on-year change in the index for all 28 countries up 1.7 percent between January and March.
Portugal recorded a year-on-year increase of 2.6 percent, as did Slovenia and Malta.