Italian wages rose slightly in the first quarter of the year. According to the data published today by Istat, the seasonally adjusted index of gross wages per full-time equivalent work unit (ULA), net of redundancy payments, records an increase of 0,7% in the industry and services complex compared to the last three months of 2010. The change on an annual basis is +2,6%. In detail, the cyclical increase was 0,9% in industry and 0,4% in services, while the trend was respectively 4 and 1,4%.
As far as the industrial sector is concerned, wages show the most marked increase in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (+14,0%). Speaking of the tertiary sector, the largest trend increase concerns accommodation and catering services (+5,6%). A reduction was recorded, however, in the financial and insurance sector (-3,7%). Compared to the last quarter of 2010, the seasonally adjusted index of social security contributions increases by 0,7%. The raw index instead grew by 3,0% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. As for the labor cost index, it shows an increase of 0,6% in cyclical terms and 2,7% in trend terms.
