Last week we reported a Eurostat release which said that in the first quarter of 2019, hourly labour costs in Malta rose by just 1.9%.

According to Eurostat, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Romania (+16.3%) and Bulgaria (+12.9%), while the only decrease was recorded in Greece (-0.2%).

Hourly labour costs rose by 2.4% in the euro area and by 2.6% in the EU28 in the first quarter of 2019, compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, hourly labour costs increased by 2.3% and 2.8% respectively.

There is nothing to sing and shout about these figures, although it has been clear for a number of years that keeping labour costs from increasing lay at the base of our economic growth.

These latest figures show that Eurozone wage growth accelerated at its fastest pace in a decade in the first quarter of this year, underpinning the region's economic expansion even as the export-led manufacturing sector suffers amid weakening global trade.

Wage growth in the single currency bloc rose 2.4% in the period, up from 2.3% at the end of last year and the fastest pace since 2009.

The figure was well above the rate of inflation and the pace of wage expansion in the past three years, which averaged 1.8%.

Mario Draghi, president of the European Cenral Bank, noted at the bank's last meeting that along with employment gain, pay increases "continue to underpin the resilience of the euro area economy and gradually rising inflation".

The Eurostat data confirm a trend observed in a less volatile wage measure tracked by the ECB, which showed Eurozone negotiated wages expanding at a record rate in the first quarter, compared with the past decade.

Separate Eurostat data, also published last week, showed Eurozone vacancy rates stood at 2.3% in the first quarter, stable compared with the last quarter of 2018 and the highest rate in a decade.

In contrast, weakness in international trade and global uncertainties were reflected in contracting industrial production in the first four months of this year, compared with the same time last year.

Wage growth in the Eurozone should now be picking up, in response to a tighter labour market although the pace remains uneven across countries.

Nearly all the 19 Eurozone countries registered an expansion in wage growth over the previous year of above 2%. Growth was at double-digit levels in many eastern European countries while both France and Germany registered wage expansion at 2.8% and 2.5% respectively. Only in Italy was wage growth consistently below 2% in the last three quarters.

And Malta, with a wage growth of just 1.9%, as said earlier.

Weakening employment measures in business surveys suggest the Eurozone labour market is no longer tightening, but economists predict continuing wage expansion this year.

Expert forecasts expect Eurozone wage growth to expand by 2.5% in 2019, an upward revision from 2.3% forecast last June and faster than last year's rate.

So this is where the Eurozone stands and this is where we stand. All the other countries are seeing wage growth at a faster rate than ours. We are being left behind. Whatever is said about our economic growth being greater than the rest of Europe, our wages, by growing more slowly than in the other countries are being left behind.