Hourly Compensation Costs In Manufacturing
International Comparison - 1975-1999
In U.S. Dollars

Country or area       1975   1980   1985   1990   1995   1996   1997   1998   1999

North America
United States ...... $6.36  $9.87 $13.01 $14.91 $17.19 $17.70 $18.27 $18.66 $19.20
Canada .............  5.96   8.67  10.95  15.95  16.10  16.64  16.47  15.60  15.60
Mexico .............  1.47   2.21   1.59   1.58   1.51   1.54   1.78   1.84   2.12

Asia and Oceania
Australia ..........  5.62   8.47   8.20  13.07  15.27  16.88  16.58  14.92  15.89
Hong Kong SAR 1 ....   .76   1.51   1.73   3.20   4.82   5.14   5.42   5.47   5.44
Israel .............  2.25   3.79   4.06   8.55  10.54  11.32  12.04  12.02  11.91
Japan ..............  3.00   5.52   6.34  12.80  23.82  21.00  19.54  18.29  20.89
Korea ..............   .32    .96   1.23   3.71   7.29   8.22   7.86   5.39   6.71
New Zealand ........  3.15   5.22   4.38   8.17   9.91  10.81  10.81   9.01   9.14
Singapore ..........   .84   1.49   2.47   3.78   7.33   8.32   8.24   7.77   7.18
Sri Lanka ..........   .28    .22    .28    .35    .48    .48    .46    .47      -
Taiwan .............   .40   1.00   1.50   3.93   5.94   5.95   5.90   5.27   5.62

Europe
Austria ............  4.51   8.88   7.58  17.75  25.32  24.80  21.97  22.21  21.83
Belgium ............  6.41  13.11   8.97  19.17  26.65  25.97  22.88  23.20  22.82
Denmark ............  6.28  10.83   8.13  18.04  24.07  24.11  22.03  22.69  22.96
Finland ............  4.61   8.24   8.16  21.03  24.10  23.41  21.32  21.66  21.10
France .............  4.52   8.94   7.52  15.49  20.01  19.93  17.99  18.28  17.98
Germany, Former West  6.31  12.25   9.53  21.88  31.58  31.20  27.68  27.52  26.93
Germany, Unified ...     -      -      -      -  30.65  30.26  26.84  26.76  26.18
Greece .............  1.69   3.73   3.66   6.76   9.17   9.59   9.20   8.91      -
Ireland ............  3.03   5.95   5.92  11.66  13.61  13.91  13.61  13.39  13.57
Italy ..............  4.67   8.15   7.63  17.45  16.22  17.75  17.57  17.11  16.60
Luxembourg .........  6.50  12.03   7.81  16.74  23.35  22.55  19.02  18.74      -
Netherlands ........  6.58  12.06   8.75  18.06  24.12  23.22  20.98  21.17  20.94
Norway .............  6.77  11.59  10.37  21.47  24.38  25.05  23.72  23.50  23.91
Portugal ...........  1.58   2.06   1.53   3.77   5.37   5.58   5.38   5.48      -
Spain ..............  2.53   5.89   4.66  11.38  12.88  13.51  12.24  12.14  12.11
Sweden .............  7.18  12.51   9.66  20.93  21.44  24.37  22.22  22.02  21.58
Switzerland ........  6.09  11.09   9.66  20.86  29.30  28.34  24.19  24.38  23.56
United Kingdom .....  3.37   7.56   6.27  12.70  13.67  14.09  15.47  16.43  16.56

Trade-weighted measures 2,3
All 28 foreign econ.  3.83   6.60   6.75  12.36  16.36  16.09  15.30  14.72  15.24
OECD 4 .............  4.25   7.30   7.40  13.49  17.72  17.36  16.45  15.85  16.44
  less Mexico, Korea5 4.82   8.30   8.48  15.54  20.36  19.88  18.79  18.21  18.80
Europe .............  5.10   9.90   7.96  17.31  21.97  22.07  20.43  20.61  20.31
Asian NIEs .........   .52   1.17   1.65   3.72   6.41   6.92   6.83   5.83   6.20

Dash means data not available.
1  Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.
2  Data for Germany relate to the former West Germany only.
3  For description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups,
   see the Technical Notes preceding these tables.
4  Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
5  Mexico joined the OECD in 1994, and Korea joined in 1996.

Source:  U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2000.

© Copyright 2000 Raymond S. Kulzick. All rights reserved. 000910.