Euro-zone Labor Costs captures employers' total cost of employing a labor force. Rising labor costs are viewed as an indicator of forthcoming inflation, which can drive up interest rates.

Unit labor costs (labor costs divided by output) is a figure used to gauge productivity; higher levels of productivity lower unit labor costs and visa versa. Higher levels of productivity effectively allow one worker to produce more. Labor costs include gross wages and salaries, social contributions by employers and taxes remaining after all subsidies related to employment. Measured on an hourly basis, the figure is calculated as a percent changer per quarter.

Relevance: Rarely affects markets
Release schedule : 9:00 (GMT); quarterly, three months after the quarter, near the middle of the month
Source of report : Eurostat
Web Address : http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
Address of release : http://ec.europa.eu/comm/eurostat
Refer Euro-Indicators - Labour market > Labour cost index - quarterly data
AKA : Euro-zone Unit Labor Costs, Euro-zone Cost of Labor