THE COST of Slovak labour is increasing fast. According to figures from Eurostat, the increase in the cost of Slovak labour was the third highest in the EU in the second quarter of 2005, the daily SME reported.
The increase in Slovak labour costs, reaching 7.6 percent year-on-year, was only topped by Latvia, which recorded a 14.2 percent rise, and Estonia with 10.4 percent.
The average growth of labour costs in the EU was 2.6 percent.
According to Veijo Ritola, the author of the analysis, the growing labour costs in new EU member states is a natural process because they "started at a much lower position compared to the original EU members".
"The earnings of their [new EU member states'] citizens represented only around one fifth of the wages of Western Europeans," said Ritola.
