SOFIA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The total hourly labor cost in Bulgaria rose by 5.1 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018, preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) showed on Wednesday.

The total hourly labor cost grew by 7.7 percent in industry, 3.6 percent in services and 2.2 percent in construction, the NSI said.

The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growths in total labor costs were recorded in "Information and communication" (11.6 percent), "Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply" (11.3 percent) and "Arts, entertainment and recreation" (8.6 percent).

Decreases were observed in "Real estate activities" by 9.1 percent, and "Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" by 3.5 percent, the NSI said.

In the structure of the total labor costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 4.8 percent in comparison with a year earlier, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 6.8 percent.

According to the last available annual data, the total labor cost per hour in 2017 in Bulgaria was 8.98 BGN, or some 5.2 U.S. dollars.