(Adds economists' comments)
By Jan Strupczewski
BRUSSELS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Euro zone labour costs jumped in the second quarter despite a fall in employment and a rise in joblessness, data showed on Tuesday, in what is likely to help domestic demand but could later hit jobs and investment.
Hourly labour costs in the 16-country euro area rose 4.0 percent in the April-June quarter against the same period of 2008, up from a 3.6 percent rise in the first quarter, European Union statistics office Eurostat said on Tuesday.
Euro zone wages grew by 3.9 percent in the same period, up from a 3.4 percent gain in the first quarter, the data showed. [ID:nBRQ007518]
The rise in labour costs at a time when unemployment is rising quickly is a result of wage deals struck still in 2008, before the global credit crunch turned into a full blown crisis when Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008.
"Wage growth reacts to developments in the labour market with quite a lag in Europe," said Nick Kounis, economist at Fortis Bank. "It could prolong the slump in private investment we are seeing now," he said.
Because the European labour market reacted to economic developments with a bigger time lag than in the United States, wage growth will also likely remain more subdued for a longer time when recovery finally takes firm hold, Kounis said.
Economists said the wage growth could be the second-round inflation effects the European Central Bank was so worried about in the first half of 2008.
"The higher wages come at a very good time, because they cushion the drop in private consumption," said Carsten Brzeski, economist at ING Bank.
"But if this continues, and companies don't have any pricing power, then of course the possibility of more layoffs will also increase, because companies are already cutting costs," he said.
Euro zone employment in the second quarter fell 0.5 percent from the previous three months, or by 702,000 people, to 145.6 million. Unemployment rose to 9.4 percent of the workforce in June from 9.2 percent in April.
Labour costs grew fastest in Greece and Spain -- by 6.6 and 6.0 percent respectively, but the euro zone's biggest economy, Germany, was not far behind with a 5.5 percent increase.
Total hourly labour costs grew by 5.3 percent in industry, led by Germany, where they soared by 7.5 percent. In France, industry labour costs as a whole and wages in particular remained unchanged in the second quarter.
In construction, Spain saw the biggest, 8.4 percent increase in labour costs despite the collapse of its building sector in the wake of the global credit crunch. Germany had the second-biggest increase -- 5.6 percent.
The services sector, which generates more than two thirds of the euro zone's gross domestic product, showed the slowest labour cost growth of the three, up 3.2 percent against the previous year. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson and Chris Pizzey)