International Labor Cost 3-30-2011.pdf

For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, March 8, 2011 USDL-11-0303 Technical Information: (202) 691-5654 ? ilchelp@ ? /ilc Media Contact: (202) 691-5902 ? PressOffice@ INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF HOURLY COMPENSATION COSTS IN MANUFACTURING, 2009 Manufacturing hourly compensation costs in the United States in 2009 were lower than in 12 European countries and Australia, but higher than in 20 other countries covered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (see chart 1). U.S. hourly compensation costs rose about 4 percent from the previous year to $33.53. The 8 countries with the highest costs in Europe were 30-60 percent higher than the U.S. level, but costs in Canada and Japan were about 10 percent lower than the United States (see table 1). 29.60 30.36 30.78 33.53 34.62 34.97 39.02 39.87 40.08 43.50 43.77 44.29 46.52 48.04 49.40 49.56 53.89 0 20 40 60 Canada Japan United Kingdom United States Australia Italy Ireland Sweden France Netherlands Finland Switzerland Germany Austria Belgium Denmark Norway 1.50 5.38 7.50 7.76 8.32 8.62 9.83 10.14 11.21 11.24 11.95 14.20 17.44 17.50 18.39 19.23 27.74 0 20 40 60 Philippines Mexico Poland Taiwan Brazil Hungary Estonia Argentina Czech Republic Slovakia Portugal Korea, Republic of New Zealand Singapore Israel Greece Spain Chart 1. Hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, U.S. dollars, 2009 Unit St t - 2 - Changes in a country’s compensation costs in U.S. dollars are roughly equivalent to the change in compensation costs in a country’s national currency plus the change in the value of the country’s currency relative to the U.S. dollar. This relationship is illustrated in chart 2, where the bars in the right panel for each country can be summed to equal the bars in the left panel. In 2009, modest increases or declines in hourly compensation costs in national currency combined with depreciations in national currency relative