The euro zone's hourly labor costs rose at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, European Union (EU) statistics office Eurostat said Friday.

Looking at the two main components of labor costs, wages and salaries grew at an annual rate of 2.5 in the first quarter, and non-wage costs by 1.2 percent.

The figures were calculated in nominal terms and have been adjusted to eliminate the effects of varying numbers of working days.

Labor costs rose fastest in industry with an annual increase of 2.5 percent in the first quarter, while the growth rate was lower at 2.1 percent in construction and 2.0 percent in services.

In the 25-nation EU as a whole, the annual rise in labor costs was 2.4 percent in the first quarter, down from 2.5 percent in the previous quarter.

Among the EU member states from which data are available, the smallest annual increase was recorded in the Netherlands (0.1 percent), while the highest annual rise were found in Latvia (19.0 percent).

Source: Xinhua