Unit labour costs rise after bank shares confidence in inflation fall

Some market participants have started to doubt that prices in the eurozone will behave as the central bank expects, particularly after recent strong wage and inflation data

At its June 6 policy meeting, the central bank raised its forecasts for inflation this year and next — even as it cut interest rates. Picture: Hannelore Foerster/Bloomberg via Getty

Eurostat data has shown that unit labour costs rose by a hefty 5.1% in the first quarter — accelerating from 3.4% in the last three months of 2023

This comes after the European Central Bank (ECB) said it was confident that inflation will fall back to its 2% target next year, despite some "noisy" inflation along the way