MADRID, 8 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The cost per hour worked increased by 6.5% in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2022, its largest increase in three years, specifically since the second quarter of 2020, when the arrival of the pandemic raised the labor cost by one 8.1%, according to provisional data from the Harmonized Labor Cost Index (ICLA) published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With the rebound in the April-June period, which increases by 2.1 points that experienced in the first quarter of the year, the labor cost has chained eight quarters of year-on-year increases.

By components, the salary cost increased by 5.7% in the second quarter of the year compared to the same quarter of 2022, while other costs rose by 8.8%. The labor cost, excluding extraordinary payments and delays, grew by 6.8% year-on-year in the second tranche of 2023.

Eliminating seasonal and calendar effects, the labor cost per hour worked increased by 5.6% in the second quarter of 2023 in relation to the same period in 2022, a rate that exceeds that of the previous quarter by 1.3 points and is also the highest since the arrival of Covid.

With this rebound, there are also eight quarters of positive rates in the corrected series.

In a quarterly rate (second quarter over the first quarter), the labor cost per hour worked rose 1.5% in the series corrected for seasonal and calendar effects, two tenths less than in the previous quarter.

With this increase, eight quarters of quarterly increases have also accumulated.

Without taking into account the seasonal and calendar adjustment, the labor cost shot up 9% between April and June due, fundamentally, to the greater weight of extraordinary payments compared to the previous quarter.