Price of labour; index 2015=100; national accounts

The table shows the evolution of the price of labour. This concerns the evolution of labour costs per hour worked of workers, adjusted for changes in the employee structure. The labour price index splits the total increase in labour costs per hour worked into a price component and a structural effect. Data available from: 2001. Status of the figures: The data from 2001 to 2020 are final. The data for 2021 and 2022 are provisional. Changes as of October 2022: Compared to the previous version, the results for the reporting period ‘2021 July — 2022 June’ have been added and the results have been adjusted from the reporting period ‘2019 October — 2020 September’. Due to the corona crisis and associated measures, there are fluctuations in the underlying figures that may have an effect on the outcome of the labour price. As of March 2020, working hours and labour costs will be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus crisis and the government measures taken. Wage costs are significantly reduced due to the temporary emergency measure bridging for employment (NOW subsidy) and hours worked also fall sharply. In the Labour Accounts, for the estimation of workers’ hours worked and wage cost subsidies deviated from the regular working method. The NOW grant, which entered into force in March 2020, allowed workers who had no work to be paid for, thus limiting job losses. As a result, fewer hours worked, but was not reflected in the number of hours recorded in the main source for the Labour Accounts: the register of employers’ wage declarations. In addition, data from the Labour Force Survey (EBB) have therefore been used. These have been used in (parts of) industries affected by the corona measures. Advance payments and reimbursements of the NOW scheme are included in the estimate of labour costs subsidies. Detailed data from the UWV on the NOW scheme was used for the estimation. When are new figures coming? Three to four months after the end of the reporting period.