Full text of 1999 : Text File, USDL: 00-295
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Technical information: (202) 691-5654 For Release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Tuesday, October 17, 2000
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY
AND UNIT LABOR COST TRENDS, 1999
In 1999, the productivity growth rate for manufacturing was the highest in
the United States among the 10 countries for which comparable data were
available, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
U.S. Department of Labor. Labor productivity in manufacturing increased by 6.2
percent in the U.S.; the countries with the next largest increases were the
United Kingdom and France. Only one country, Norway, showed no increase in
productivity. (See chart 1.)
This release contains preliminary estimates for 1999, as well as revisions
to the estimates through 1998, and are based on data available in June 2000.
The U.S. manufacturing output series used for international comparisons differs
from the manufacturing series that BLS publishes quarterly on U.S. productivity
and costs. Labor productivity for this release is computed as value added
output per hour worked. (See technical notes.)
PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT
Chart 1. Percent change in manufacturing output per hour, 1999
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Unit labor costs - the cost of labor input required to produce one unit of
output - are computed as the ratio of labor costs in nominal terms divided by
real output. Unit labor costs also can be expressed as the ratio of hourly
compensation to labor productivity. An increase in productivity represents a
decrease in the amount of labor input used to produce a unit of output; thus, an
increase in productivity can offset an increase in compensation per hour in its
effects on unit labor costs.
Unit labor costs in manufacturing, expressed in national currency units,
declined in 7 of the 13 countries compared in 1999 and rose in 5. Unified
Germany showed no change. The United States experienced a decline of -1.1
percent. The largest declines occurred in Korea (-4.3 percent), Taiwan (-2.2
percent), and Japan (-1.4 percent). The largest increases were in Denmark (6.0
percent) and Norway (5.7 percent). (See table A.)
In order to properly assess international competitiveness trends in
manufactured products, it is essential to take into account changes in exchange
rates. Converted to U.S. dollars at market exchange rates, unit labor costs
increased in Korea, Taiwan, and Japan in 1999. Denmark and Norway still showed
increased unit labor costs, which were smaller than in national currency units.
All the other countries experienced declines. (See chart 2.)
The increase in unit labor costs in U.S. dollars in Japan, Korea, and
Taiwan occurred because the exchange rates of their currencies strengthened
against the U.S. dollar during 1999. The exchange rates of all the other
currencies weakened against the U.S. dollar. (See table A.)
PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT:
Chart 2. Percent change in manufacturing unit labor costs (U.S. dollar basis),
1999
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Table A summarizes changes in manufacturing productivity, unit labor costs,
and related variables between 1998 and 1999. Output and unit labor cost data
are presented for 13 economies. Comparable productivity data are not shown for
Korea, Taiwan, and Denmark. (See technical notes.) No 1999 data are available
for the Netherlands. For Canada, Sweden, and Belgium, output per hour rose
because output increased more than hours. Except for the U.K., all other
countries with positive productivity growth experienced an increase in output
and a decrease in hours. The U.K. growth in productivity was the result of a
decline in hours worked greater than the decline in output. Norway's unchanged
productivity was due to equal decreases in hours worked and in output.
Unit labor costs are affected by the degree and direction of changes in
both hourly compensation and productivity. Of the 10 countries for which hours
worked series are available, all except Norway showed an increase in both hourly
compensation and labor productivity in 1999. In Italy, Sweden, and the U.K.,
hourly compensation grew more than productivity, resulting in increases in unit
labor costs. In unified Germany, hourly compensation and productivity increased
at approximately the same rates. In the other countries, productivity growth
was greater than the rise in hourly compensation, causing unit labor costs to
decline. In Norway, no change in productivity and an increase in hourly
compensation resulted in a rise in unit labor costs.
Table A. Manufacturing productivity and labor costs in 13 countries or areas
Percent change, 1998-99
Output Total Hourly Unit labor costs
Country per Employ- Average compen- compen- National U.S. Exchange
or area hour Output Hours ment hours sation sation currency dollars rate (1)
United States 6.2 4.3 - 1.7 - 1.6 - 0.2 3.2 5.0 - 1.1 - 1.1 ---
Canada 2.4 6.2 3.8 2.9 0.9 5.5 1.7 - 0.7 - 0.9 - 0.1
Japan 3.1 0.3 - 2.7 - 2.5 - 0.2 - 1.1 1.6 - 1.4 13.6 15.2
Korea (2) NA 21.8 NA NA NA 16.5 NA - 4.3 12.6 17.7
Taiwan (2) NA 6.4 NA NA NA 4.0 NA - 2.2 1.5 3.8
Belgium 0.7 1.8 1.1 0.0 1.1 1.5 0.4 - 0.3 - 4.4 - 4.1
Denmark NA - 3.3 NA - 2.1 NA 2.5 NA 6.0 1.6 - 4.1
France 4.0 2.5 - 1.4 0.2 - 1.7 2.3 3.8 - 0.1 - 4.3 - 4.2
Germany (unified) 1.4 1.2 - 0.2 - 0.2 0.1 1.3 1.5 0.0 - 4.1 - 4.2
Italy 1.7 1.0 - 0.7 - 0.3 - 0.4 2.1 2.8 1.1 - 3.4 - 4.4
Norway 0.0 - 3.0 - 3.0 - 2.6 - 0.4 2.5 5.7 5.7 2.3 - 3.3
Sweden 2.9 4.2 1.3 1.0 0.3 4.6 3.3 0.4 - 3.5 - 3.9
United Kingdom 4.3 - 0.2 - 4.3 - 3.2 - 1.2 0.2 4.7 0.4 - 2.0 - 2.4
(1) Value of foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar.
(2) Productivity not available because suitable labor input measures have not been developed by BLS.
NA=Not Available
Although the productivity measure relates output to the hours worked of
persons employed in manufacturing, it does not measure the specific
contributions of labor as a single factor of production. Rather, it reflects
the joint effects of many influences, including new
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technology, capital investment, capacity utilization, energy use, and managerial
skills, as well as the skills and efforts of the work force.
Table B (pages 7-11) shows average annual percent changes for selected
periods, beginning in 1979. Annual indexes of the data are in tables 1-15
(pages 17-31).
BOX: Notes about the measures
The measures in this news release are based on data available to BLS as of June
2000. Revisions for 1998 and some earlier years were made to the measures for
several countries to incorporate data not available at the time of the April
2000 news release.
U.S. manufacturing output measure
The output measure for the United States is the chain-weighted index of real
gross product originating (deflated value added), introduced by the Bureau of
Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, in August 1996. This
series is based on annually changing price weights.
The U.S. output data through 1998 were published by BEA in June 2000 and
incorporate the results of the comprehensive revision of the gross product by
industry estimates released in June 2000.
The BLS estimate of real U.S. output for 1999 was derived by extrapolating the
1998 number forward, using the annual growth rate of the Federal Reserve Board's
(FRB) Industrial Production Index for Total Manufacturing.
The U.S. output series used for international comparisons differs from the
manufacturing series that BLS publishes on quarterly measures of U.S.
productivity and costs. While both series are based on annually-changing price
weights, the international comparisons program uses a value added output
concept, while the quarterly U.S. manufacturing series is on a sectoral output
basis. For information on the differences between the value added and the
sectoral output measures, see technical notes.
Unified Germany
Previous editions of this news release contained comparative estimates for the
former West Germany only. Sufficient time series data for unified Germany have
now been published by the German Federal Statistical Office to make possible the
estimation of comparative manufacturing productivity and unit labor cost
measures for the whole of Germany, beginning with 1991. Although time series
data for the former West Germany end with 1998, comparative indexes for West
Germany also are included in this report for historical comparison purposes.
New measures of National Accounts
Member states of the European Union are implementing the European System of
Integrated National Accounts (ESA 95). Some other countries are adopting the
System of National Accounts recommended by the United Nations (SNA 93), on which
ESA 95 is based. Revisions to date due to these conversions to new systems are
incorporated in this news release.
END OF BOX (Notes about the measures)
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Productivity, output, and labor input
In the 10 countries for which hours worked data are available, nine showed
labor productivity increases in 1999. Productivity in Norway was unchanged.
(See table B.)
U.S. output per hour increased 6.2 percent in 1999, the largest increase
among the countries compared, as well as the largest U.S. increase in over a
decade and well above its average annual increase between 1979 and 1999. In
1999, U.S. output grew 4.3 percent and hours worked fell 1.7 percent, the second
year that U.S. manufacturing hours declined. (See table B.)
In three countries, Canada, Japan, and Italy, productivity grew in 1999
following declines in 1998. In France, Sweden, and the U.K., productivity
increased more in 1999 than in 1998, whereas in unified Germany and Belgium the
increase was less in 1999 than in 1998. (See table B.)
Following a 0.8 percent productivity increase in 1998, Norway's
productivity was unchanged in 1999, with a 3.0 percent decline in hours worked
being matched by a 3.0 percent drop in output. (See table B.)
Two other countries, the U.K. and Denmark, also recorded lower
manufacturing output in 1999 than in 1998, following positive output growth the
previous year. Manufacturing output in 1999 increased in the remaining 10
countries. Korean output grew by 21.8 percent in 1999, after declining 7.4
percent in 1998. The other increases ranged from 6.4 percent (Taiwan) to only
0.3 percent (Japan). Japanese output had dropped 6.7 percent in 1998. (See
table B.)
During the 20-year period 1979-99, manufacturing output increased in all
the countries compared, from an average of 0.4 percent per year in Norway to 8.9
percent per year in Korea. The number of countries where the 1999 rate of
output growth was below the 1979-1999 yearly average is slightly higher (seven)
than the number of countries (five) with output growth above the average for
those same years. (See table B.)
Total hours worked in manufacturing declined over the 20-year period 1979-
99 in all the countries for which hours data are available, except Canada.
Canadian hours worked rose at an average rate of 0.3 percent per year during the
1979-99 period and have been going up at a quicker rate over the last four
years, increasing by 3.8 percent in 1999. (See table B.)
For the other countries, the average 1979-99 declines in hours ranged from
2.5 percent per year in the U.K. to 0.4 percent per year in the U.S. Hours in
1999 were down in all these countries except Belgium and Sweden, from 4.3
percent (U.K.) to 0.2 percent (unified Germany). (See table B.)
Hourly compensation and unit labor costs
Unit labor costs, expressed in national currency units, declined in seven
of the countries compared in 1999, increased in five, and were unchanged in
unified Germany. The biggest declines occurred in Korea (-4.3 percent) and
Taiwan (-2.2 percent); the largest increases were in Denmark (6.0 percent) and
Norway (5.7 percent). Unit labor costs in Korea have now
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declined for three consecutive years, while those in Denmark, Norway, and the
U.K. have risen for five or more consecutive years. U.S. unit labor costs went
down 1.1 percent in 1999, following a small rise in 1998 and declines in 1997
and 1996. (See tables B and 9.)
Hourly compensation increased in 1999 in all the countries for which hours
worked data were available. The largest increases occurred in Norway (5.7
percent), the U.S. (5.0 percent), and the U.K. (4.7 percent). (See table B.)
A change in unit labor costs can be expressed as a change in hourly
compensation divided by labor productivity. Therefore, an increase in unit
labor costs indicates that labor compensation is rising faster than
productivity, while the inverse is true for declining unit labor costs. Based
on this relationship, table B shows that, for the pre-1990 periods of comparison
for all countries, average annual increases in compensation in national currency
surpassed average annual increases in labor productivity. U.S. unit labor costs
have declined at an average annual rate of 0.3 percent since 1990 and have gone
down in three of the last four years. In 1999 a 1.1 percent drop occurred
despite a 5.0 percent increase in hourly compensation, since productivity went
up by 6.2 percent. (See table B.)
For the last several years, the U.S. dollar has strengthened against most
of the currencies of the countries being compared. During 1999, all the
European currencies weakened against the U.S. dollar, by 2.4 to 4.4 percent.
The Canadian dollar also lost ground to the U.S. dollar. However, the
currencies of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan appreciated in value during 1999,
reversing several consecutive years of declines. The Japanese yen rose by 15.2
percent, the Korean won by 17.7 percent, and the Taiwanese dollar by 3.8
percent. (See tables B and 11.)
These movements in the currency markets had a noticeable effect on
comparative unit labor costs expressed in U.S. dollars. The strengthening of
currencies in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan against the dollar in 1999 caused unit
labor costs in these countries to rise when expressed in U.S. dollars, although
they went down in terms of their own currencies. These increases were 13.6
percent in Japan, 12.6 percent in Korea, and 1.5 percent in Taiwan. (See table
B.)
On the other hand, unit labor costs expressed in U.S. dollars declined in
1999 in Sweden (-3.5 percent), Italy (-3.4 percent), and the U.K. (-2.0
percent), although going up in terms of their national currencies. (See table
B.)
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Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-99
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-99 1979-85 1985-90 1990-99 1996 1997 1998 1999
or area
Output per hour
United States 3.3 3.5 2.4 3.7 2.8 3.5 4.9 6.2
Canada 2.1 3.3 0.7 2.1 -1.3 3.0 -0.3 2.4
Japan 3.5 3.5 4.3 3.0 5.9 4.9 -0.8 3.1
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium 3.6 6.0 2.2 2.8 2.0 6.0 0.9 0.7
Denmark NA 2.1 0.5 NA NA NA NA NA
France 3.4 3.0 3.4 3.6 0.5 6.6 1.1 4.0
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA 3.2 4.8 3.5 1.4
Italy 3.0 4.6 2.3 2.2 0.2 1.9 -0.4 1.7
Netherlands NA 4.4 2.1 NA 1.7 5.0 1.7 NA
Norway 1.4 2.4 1.4 0.8 0.1 0.9 0.8 0.0
Sweden 3.4 3.1 1.9 4.4 2.1 6.8 2.0 2.9
United Kingdom 3.3 4.1 4.1 2.4 -1.5 0.8 0.6 4.3
Output
United States 2.9 2.2 2.5 3.6 2.4 5.3 4.6 4.3
Canada 2.4 1.8 2.0 3.0 1.4 6.9 3.9 6.2
Japan 3.0 4.7 4.8 0.8 6.1 4.1 -6.7 0.3
Korea 8.9 8.3 12.2 7.5 6.8 6.6 -7.4 21.8
Taiwan 6.5 8.2 7.0 5.1 4.8 6.7 3.3 6.4
Belgium 2.0 2.6 2.5 1.3 0.9 4.6 1.7 1.8
Denmark 1.2 2.9 -0.2 0.9 -4.3 2.6 2.5 -3.3
France 1.2 -0.4 2.6 1.6 -0.3 4.9 1.6 2.5
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA -1.9 3.0 4.7 1.2
Italy 1.9 1.4 3.6 1.2 -1.4 2.5 1.8 1.0
Netherlands NA 1.8 3.1 NA 0.5 5.3 2.2 NA
Norway 0.4 0.6 -1.6 1.4 1.1 5.1 1.6 -3.0
Sweden 2.6 2.2 1.4 3.5 2.1 5.8 4.3 4.2
United Kingdom 0.7 -1.2 3.4 0.5 0.4 1.3 0.3 -0.2
Continued on next page
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Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-99
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-99 1979-85 1985-90 1990-99 1996 1997 1998 1999
or area
Total hours
United States -0.4 -1.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.3 1.7 -0.3 -1.7
Canada 0.3 -1.5 1.3 0.9 2.8 3.8 4.2 3.8
Japan -0.5 1.1 0.5 -2.1 0.2 -0.8 -5.9 -2.7
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium -1.5 -3.2 0.4 -1.5 -1.0 -1.4 0.8 1.1
Denmark NA 0.8 -0.6 NA NA NA NA NA
France -2.1 -3.3 -0.8 -2.0 -0.7 -1.6 0.5 -1.4
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA -4.9 -1.7 1.2 -0.2
Italy -1.0 -3.0 1.3 -1.0 -1.6 0.7 2.3 -0.7
Netherlands NA -2.5 1.0 NA -1.2 0.3 0.4 NA
Norway -1.0 -1.8 -2.9 0.6 1.0 4.1 0.8 -3.0
Sweden -0.7 -0.8 -0.5 -0.8 0.0 -1.0 2.3 1.3
United Kingdom -2.5 -5.1 -0.6 -1.9 1.9 0.5 -0.3 -4.3
Employment
United States -0.6 -1.4 -0.1 -0.3 -0.3 1.0 0.7 -1.6
Canada 0.1 -1.3 1.2 0.5 2.3 2.7 4.8 2.9
Japan 0.1 1.2 0.8 -1.1 -0.6 -0.1 -3.9 -2.5
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium -1.5 -2.6 -0.3 -1.5 -1.4 -1.5 0.6 0.0
Denmark 0.0 1.0 -0.2 -0.7 0.2 -0.4 2.3 -2.1
France -1.7 -2.3 -0.9 -1.8 -0.9 -2.1 0.2 0.2
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA -2.8 -1.9 0.0 -0.2
Italy -1.2 -2.9 0.3 -0.8 -0.8 0.3 2.5 -0.3
Netherlands NA -2.2 1.2 NA -1.1 0.7 0.6 NA
Norway -0.9 -1.8 -2.7 0.6 1.6 4.3 0.6 -2.6
Sweden -1.4 -1.2 -0.8 -1.9 -0.3 -1.1 2.3 1.0
United Kingdom -2.4 -4.8 -0.8 -1.7 1.8 0.5 0.9 -3.2
Continued on next page
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Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-99
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-99 1979-85 1985-90 1990-99 1996 1997 1998 1999
or area
Average hours
United States 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.7 -1.0 -0.2
Canada 0.1 -0.2 0.1 0.3 0.5 1.1 -0.6 0.9
Japan -0.5 0.0 -0.3 -1.0 0.8 -0.6 -2.1 -0.2
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium 0.0 -0.6 0.7 0.0 0.4 0.1 0.2 1.1
Denmark NA -0.3 -0.5 NA NA NA NA NA
France -0.4 -1.0 0.1 -0.2 0.1 0.5 0.3 -1.7
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA -2.1 0.2 1.2 0.1
Italy 0.1 -0.1 1.0 -0.2 -0.8 0.4 -0.2 -0.4
Netherlands NA -0.3 -0.2 NA -0.1 -0.4 -0.2 NA
Norway -0.1 0.0 -0.2 0.0 -0.6 -0.2 0.2 -0.4
Sweden 0.7 0.4 0.3 1.1 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.3
United Kingdom -0.1 -0.3 0.2 -0.2 0.1 0.0 -1.2 -1.2
Labor compensation in manufacturing 2/: National currency basis
United States 4.2 5.8 3.9 3.3 1.0 3.7 5.0 3.2
Canada 5.3 7.5 5.6 3.7 1.9 6.9 7.1 5.5
Japan 3.4 5.9 5.1 0.8 1.6 1.9 -4.4 -1.1
Korea 15.1 18.7 19.7 10.4 12.2 -2.2 -9.4 16.5
Taiwan 9.9 15.9 10.7 5.6 4.2 5.0 4.8 4.0
Belgium 3.0 4.7 4.0 1.4 0.1 2.0 2.2 1.5
Denmark 5.0 9.0 4.6 2.6 2.9 3.7 3.3 2.5
France 4.1 9.1 3.6 1.1 0.9 0.9 2.2 2.3
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA 0.5 0.5 1.9 1.3
Italy 7.5 13.0 8.2 3.6 5.0 4.9 0.4 2.1
Netherlands NA 2.3 3.1 NA 1.1 2.6 2.6 NA
Norway 5.7 8.0 4.7 4.8 5.1 8.7 7.2 2.5
Sweden 6.1 8.8 7.9 3.4 7.3 3.8 5.4 4.6
United Kingdom 5.0 5.9 8.1 2.8 2.7 3.6 4.7 0.2
Continued on next page
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Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-99
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-99 1979-85 1985-90 1990-99 1996 1997 1998 1999
or area
Hourly compensation 2/: National currency basis
United States 4.7 7.2 3.9 3.4 1.3 1.9 5.3 5.0
Canada 5.0 9.1 4.2 2.8 -0.9 3.0 2.8 1.7
Japan 3.9 4.7 4.6 2.9 1.4 2.7 1.7 1.6
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium 4.6 8.1 3.7 2.9 1.2 3.4 1.4 0.4
Denmark NA 8.1 5.3 NA NA NA NA NA
France 6.3 12.8 4.5 3.1 1.7 2.5 1.7 3.8
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA 5.7 2.2 0.7 1.5
Italy 8.6 16.6 6.8 4.6 6.7 4.2 -1.9 2.8
Netherlands NA 5.0 2.1 NA 2.3 2.3 2.2 NA
Norway 6.8 10.0 7.8 4.2 4.1 4.4 6.3 5.7
Sweden 6.9 9.8 8.4 4.2 7.4 4.8 3.0 3.3
United Kingdom 7.8 11.6 8.8 4.7 0.7 3.0 5.0 4.7
Unit labor costs: National currency basis
United States 1.3 3.6 1.4 -0.3 -1.4 -1.5 0.4 -1.1
Canada 2.8 5.6 3.5 0.7 0.4 -0.1 3.1 -0.7
Japan 0.4 1.2 0.3 0.0 -4.3 -2.1 2.5 -1.4
Korea 5.7 9.6 6.7 2.6 5.1 -8.3 -2.1 -4.3
Taiwan 3.2 7.2 3.5 0.5 -0.5 -1.6 1.4 -2.2
Belgium 1.0 2.0 1.5 0.0 -0.8 -2.5 0.5 -0.3
Denmark 3.7 5.9 4.8 1.7 7.6 1.1 0.8 6.0
France 2.8 9.5 1.0 -0.5 1.2 -3.9 0.6 -0.1
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA 2.4 -2.5 -2.7 0.0
Italy 5.5 11.4 4.4 2.3 6.5 2.3 -1.4 1.1
Netherlands NA 0.5 0.0 NA 0.6 -2.5 0.4 NA
Norway 5.3 7.4 6.4 3.3 4.0 3.5 5.4 5.7
Sweden 3.4 6.5 6.4 -0.2 5.2 -1.9 1.0 0.4
United Kingdom 4.3 7.2 4.5 2.3 2.3 2.2 4.4 0.4
Continued on next page
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Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-99
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-99 1979-85 1985-90 1990-99 1996 1997 1998 1999
or area
Unit labor costs: U.S. dollar basis
United States 1.3 3.6 1.4 -0.3 -1.4 -1.5 0.4 -1.1
Canada 1.6 2.9 6.8 -2.0 1.1 -1.6 -3.8 -0.9
Japan 3.7 -0.3 10.8 2.7 -17.3 -12.0 -5.3 13.6
Korea 1.1 -0.5 10.9 -3.1 0.8 -22.3 -33.5 12.6
Taiwan 3.8 5.4 12.0 -1.6 -4.0 -6.0 -13.0 1.5
Belgium -0.3 -9.3 13.8 -1.3 -5.6 -15.6 -0.9 -4.4
Denmark 2.2 -5.8 16.7 0.3 3.9 -11.3 -0.6 1.6
France 0.9 -3.3 11.7 -1.8 -1.4 -15.8 -0.5 -4.3
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA -2.5 -15.4 -4.0 -4.1
Italy 1.4 -3.0 14.6 -2.3 12.5 -7.4 -3.3 -3.4
Netherlands NA -7.6 12.8 NA -4.3 -15.8 -1.2 NA
Norway 3.0 -1.7 13.3 0.8 2.0 -5.7 -1.1 2.3
Sweden 0.1 -5.2 14.7 -3.8 11.9 -13.9 -2.9 -3.5
United Kingdom 2.9 -1.3 11.4 1.2 1.1 7.3 5.6 -2.0
Exchange rates 3/
United States 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Canada -1.2 -2.5 3.2 -2.6 0.6 -1.5 -6.7 -0.1
Japan 3.3 -1.5 10.5 2.7 -13.6 -10.1 -7.6 15.2
Korea -4.4 -9.2 3.9 -5.6 -4.0 -15.3 -32.1 17.7
Taiwan 0.5 -1.7 8.2 -2.0 -3.5 -4.5 -14.2 3.8
Belgium -1.3 -11.1 12.2 -1.4 -4.8 -13.5 -1.4 -4.1
Denmark -1.4 -11.0 11.4 -1.3 -3.5 -12.2 -1.4 -4.1
France -1.8 -11.7 10.5 -1.4 -2.5 -12.4 -1.0 -4.2
Germany (unified) NA NA NA NA -4.8 -13.3 -1.4 -4.2
Italy -3.8 -12.9 9.8 -4.5 5.6 -9.5 -1.9 -4.4
Netherlands -0.2 -8.0 12.7 -1.4 -4.9 -13.6 -1.6 -4.1
Norway -2.1 -8.4 6.6 -2.4 -1.9 -8.8 -6.2 -3.3
Sweden -3.2 -11.0 7.8 -3.6 6.4 -12.2 -3.9 -3.9
United Kingdom -1.4 -7.9 6.6 -1.1 -1.1 4.9 1.2 -2.4
1/ Rates of change based on the compound 3/ Value of foreign currency relative to
rate method. the U.S. dollar.
2/ Adjusted to include employment taxes
that are not compensation to employees NA = Not available.
but are labor costs to employers.
-12-
Trade-weighted unit labor costs
Because the economies covered differ greatly in their relative importance
to U.S. trade in manufactured goods, BLS constructs indexes of U.S. unit labor
cost trends relative to a trade-weighted average of unit labor cost trends in
the other economies. (See chart 3.)
PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT:
Chart 3. U.S. manufacturing unit labor costs relative to 12 competitors, 1979-99
The construction of the indexes shown in chart 3 is a three-step process.
First, the indexes of unit labor costs for all economies are rebased to a common
year (in this case, 1979=100). Second, for each year, a "competitors" index is
calculated as the weighted geometric mean of the indexes for all competitor
economies. Finally, the U.S. index number for each year is divided by the
"competitors" index number (and multiplied by 100) to obtain a relative ratio of
the United States to the competitors. This process is used to calculate the
relative trade-weighted unit labor cost indexes on both a national currency and
a U.S. dollar basis.
In chart 3, the solid line indicates that U.S. unit labor costs rose faster
than "competitors" costs between 1979 and 1985 on a U.S. dollar basis. In most
years between 1985 and 1995, U.S. costs either rose at a slower rate than the
"competitors" costs or fell at a faster rate. Since 1995, however, the strength
of the U.S. dollar has once again caused relative U.S. unit labor costs to rise.
The data underlying this chart are shown in table C.
- 13 -
Table C. U.S. manufacturing unit labor
costs relative to 12 competitors, 1979-99
Unit Labor Costs Unit Labor Costs
National Currency Basis U.S. Dollar Basis
Year Own Competitors' Own Competitors'
Index Index Ratio Index Index Ratio
1979 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1980 111.4 111.4 100.0 111.4 109.7 101.5
1981 116.5 120.6 96.6 116.5 109.7 106.2
1982 124.2 128.8 96.4 124.2 106.1 117.1
1983 121.6 131.0 92.8 121.6 104.9 115.9
1984 121.0 131.8 91.8 121.0 99.7 121.3
1985 123.4 133.3 92.5 123.4 97.8 126.1
1986 128.9 138.8 92.9 128.9 122.2 105.5
1987 122.8 141.0 87.1 122.8 140.2 87.6
1988 122.5 142.4 86.0 122.5 153.0 80.1
1989 128.0 146.0 87.6 128.0 152.6 83.8
1990 132.4 152.0 87.1 132.4 163.8 80.8
1991 138.0 159.3 86.7 138.0 174.5 79.1
1992 141.3 163.7 86.3 141.3 182.6 77.4
1993 142.2 166.3 85.5 142.2 181.0 78.6
1994 139.2 164.1 84.8 139.2 181.5 76.7
1995 134.0 164.2 81.6 134.0 191.4 70.0
1996 132.1 164.2 80.4 132.1 181.8 72.7
1997 130.1 161.8 80.4 130.1 165.8 78.5
1998 130.6 164.3 79.5 130.6 156.4 83.5
1999 129.2 162.9 79.3 129.2 161.3 80.1
BOX: Note on European exchange rates for 1999
On Jan. 1, 1999, 11 European countries joined the European Monetary Union (EMU).
Currencies of EMU members are established at fixed conversion rates to the euro,
the official currency of the EMU. Exchange rates between the national
currencies of EMU countries and the U.S. dollar are no longer reported; only the
exchange rate between the euro and the U.S. dollar is available.
In this news release, 1999 exchange rates in national currencies for Belgium,
France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands are calculated by taking the number
of euros per U.S. dollar and then converting euros into national currencies at
fixed conversion rates.
1 euro equals:
40.3399 Belgian Francs 1936.27 Italian Lire
6.55957 French Francs 2.20371 Netherlands Guilders
1.95583 German Marks
In 1999, 1 euro was equal to 1.0653 U.S. dollars.
END OF BOX (Note on European exchange rates for 1999)
-14-
TECHNICAL NOTES
The Bureau of Labor Statistics constructs trend indexes of manufacturing
labor productivity (output per hour), hourly compensation costs, and unit labor
costs from three basic aggregate measures - output, total labor hours, and total
compensation. The hours and compensation measures refer to employees (wage and
salary earners) in Korea, Taiwan, Belgium, Denmark, and Italy. For all other
countries, the measures refer to all employed persons, including employees,
self-employed persons, and unpaid family workers. For all of the countries, the
term "hours" refers to hours worked.
In general, although some variations are present, the measures relate to
total manufacturing as defined by the International Standard Industrial
Classification (ISIC). However, the measures for France refer to mining and
manufacturing less energy-related products, and the measures for Denmark include
mining and exclude manufacturing handicrafts from 1960 to 1966.
The comparisons in this news release make use of data made available to BLS
as of June 2000 by the statistical agencies of the individual countries. For
some countries, for the most recent years, these data are based on the European
System of Integrated National Accounts (ESA 95) or on the United Nations revised
System of National Accounts (SNA 93). For other countries, data were compiled
according to previously used systems.
To obtain historical time series, BLS may link together data series compiled
according to different accounting systems.
Output. For most countries, the output measures are value added in
manufacturing from the national accounts. However, output for Japan prior to
1970 and for the Netherlands prior to 1960 are indexes of industrial production.
The national accounts measures for the United Kingdom are essentially identical
to their indexes of industrial production.
In this release, manufacturing output data for the United States from 1977
forward are the gross product originating (value added) measures prepared by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. U. S.
gross product originating is a chain-type annual-weighted series. 1/ Comparable
manufacturing output data are not available prior to 1977.
The gross product originating series differs from the manufacturing output
series that BLS publishes on quarterly measures of U.S. productivity and costs.
The quarterly measures are on a sectoral output basis rather than a value added
basis. Sectoral output is gross output less intra-sector sales and transfers.
2/
A value added concept has been used for the international comparisons series
because the data are more readily available in the countries' national accounts,
whereas sectoral output would require a complex estimation procedure. Also,
although BLS has determined that sectoral output is the correct concept for U.S.
measures of single factor productivity (output per hour), there are other
considerations that may make value added a better concept for international
comparisons, such as differences among countries in the extent of vertical
integration.
The historical real output series for many of the other countries are
estimated using fixed price weights, with the weights updated periodically (for
example, every 5 or 10 years). The Japanese value added series is based upon
one set of fixed price weights since 1970.
Measures of real output also may differ among countries because of different
approaches to estimating the prices of high-technology products like computers
and, in general, of products that undergo rapid quality change.
Labor Input. The total hours measures are developed from statistics of
manufacturing employment and average hours. The total hours series used for
France (from 1970 forward),
-15-
Norway, Sweden, and Canada are series published with the national accounts.
Where such series are not available, the measures are developed by BLS using
employment figures published with the national accounts, or other comprehensive
employment series, and estimates of average annual hours worked. For the former
West Germany after 1959 and unified Germany from 1991, BLS uses aggregate hours
worked, which were developed by a research institute of the German Ministry of
Labor for use with the national accounts employment figures; earlier figures are
BLS estimates. For the other countries, and the former West Germany before
1959, BLS constructs its own estimates of average hours. BLS is in the process
of assessing the comparability of the employment and hours time series data
available from statistical sources in Denmark, Korea, and Taiwan.
Compensation (Labor Cost). The compensation measures are from national
accounts data. Compensation includes employer expenditures for legally required
insurance programs and contractual and private benefit plans, in addition to all
payments made in cash or in-kind directly to employees. For Canada, France, and
Sweden, compensation is increased to account for other important taxes on
payroll or employment. For the United Kingdom, compensation is reduced between
1967 and 1991 to account for subsidies. When data for the self-employed are not
available, total compensation is estimated by assuming the same hourly
compensation for self-employed and employees. Real compensation for the U.S. is
derived using the Consumer Price Index research series (CPI-U-RS).
Current Indicators. The measures for recent years may be based on current
indicators of output (such as industrial production indexes), employment,
average hours, and hourly compensation until national accounts and other
statistics, normally used for the long-term measures, become available.
Trade-Weighted Measures. The trade weights for Canada, Japan, and the
European countries were obtained by re-scaling a series of weights, developed by
the International Monetary Fund, based on average trade flows over the 1989-91
period. These weights are based on aggregate trade data for total manufacturing
and take account of both bilateral trade and the relative importance of "third
country" markets. The 1989-91 weights do not include Korea and Taiwan. BLS
developed weights for Korea and Taiwan by using data from an earlier study from
the International Monetary Fund and other sources. The weight used for Germany
is based on the trade weight of the former West Germany.
The following weights were used for the entire period for which trade-
weighted unit labor cost measures are produced:
Country Weight Country Weight
Canada 24.46 Italy 4.44
Japan 29.54 Norway 0.46
Belgium 2.06 Sweden 1.83
Denmark 0.46 United Kingdom 8.68
France 5.70 Korea 5.55
Germany 11.22 Taiwan 5.60
-16-
Level Comparisons. The BLS measures are limited to trend comparisons. BLS
does not prepare level comparisons of manufacturing productivity and unit labor
costs because of data limitations and technical problems in comparing the levels
of manufacturing output among countries. Each country measures manufacturing
output in its own currency units. To compare outputs among countries, a common
unit of measure is needed. Market exchange rates are not suitable as a basis
for comparing output levels. What is needed are purchasing power parities,
which are the number of foreign currency units required to buy goods and
services equivalent to what can be bought with one unit of U.S. currency.
Purchasing power parities are available for total gross domestic product
(GDP) from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
However, these parities are derived for expenditures made by consumers,
business, and government for goods and services - not for value added by
industry. Therefore, they do not provide purchasing power parities by industry.
The parities for total GDP are not suitable for each component industry, such as
manufacturing.
1/ For more information on the U. S. measure, see Sherlene K.S. Lum, Brian C.
Moyer, and Robert E. Yuskavage, "Improved Estimates of Gross Product by Industry
for 1947-98," Survey of Current Business, June 2000, pp. 24-38.
2/ For information on sectoral output, see William Gullickson, "Measurement of
productivity growth in U.S. manufacturing," Monthly Labor Review, July 1995, pp.
13-28.
- 17 -
Table 1. Output per hour in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 NA 26.6 NA NA NA NA 22.6 13.2 NA 13.2 11.5 11.3 24.5 19.5 25.5
1955 NA 32.7 8.7 NA NA NA 24.6 16.6 NA 19.7 16.1 14.4 28.5 21.3 27.5
1960 NA 38.7 14.0 NA NA 18.0 29.9 21.8 NA 29.2 20.2 18.6 36.7 27.3 31.2
1961 NA 40.8 15.8 NA NA 18.2 31.6 23.1 NA 30.6 21.8 19.6 38.0 28.7 31.2
1962 NA 44.3 16.6 NA NA 19.2 33.2 24.7 NA 32.8 24.1 20.4 38.0 30.9 31.9
1963 NA 46.2 18.0 NA NA 19.9 34.3 26.0 NA 34.1 24.8 21.2 40.0 32.7 33.6
1964 NA 48.2 20.4 NA NA 21.2 37.1 28.0 NA 37.1 25.0 23.1 42.2 35.5 35.8
1965 NA 50.3 21.2 NA NA 22.3 38.9 30.0 NA 39.3 27.9 24.7 44.7 38.2 36.9
1966 NA 51.0 23.3 NA NA 23.8 40.8 32.5 NA 40.9 30.3 26.3 46.6 39.8 38.1
1967 NA 51.5 26.3 NA NA 25.1 43.8 34.5 NA 43.4 31.8 28.3 48.3 43.2 39.9
1968 NA 54.5 29.5 NA NA 27.3 47.8 38.1 NA 47.0 34.3 31.8 51.3 47.2 42.7
1969 NA 57.4 33.8 NA NA 29.9 49.8 40.5 NA 50.4 35.6 34.9 56.1 50.9 43.7
1970 NA 56.6 38.0 NA NA 32.9 52.7 43.0 NA 52.0 37.9 38.1 57.8 52.2 44.7
1971 NA 60.0 40.2 NA NA 35.1 56.3 45.5 NA 54.0 38.5 40.4 60.1 54.5 46.8
1972 NA 62.7 44.1 NA NA 39.2 60.8 47.5 NA 57.4 41.7 43.6 63.6 57.2 49.5
1973 NA 66.2 48.1 NA NA 43.5 66.9 50.9 NA 61.1 45.2 48.3 67.6 61.4 53.0
1974 NA 67.2 49.3 NA NA 45.8 69.1 52.0 NA 63.2 48.1 51.9 70.6 64.0 53.9
1975 NA 64.7 50.7 NA NA 47.6 76.1 53.8 NA 65.9 46.5 51.2 69.7 65.0 52.8
1976 NA 70.3 53.8 NA NA 52.4 78.8 57.1 NA 70.6 52.9 56.8 71.9 66.0 55.0
1977 68.3 74.9 55.9 NA NA 55.0 80.4 60.5 NA 72.7 54.0 61.4 71.5 65.0 55.5
1978 69.2 76.7 58.1 NA NA 58.3 81.6 63.2 NA 75.2 57.5 65.4 72.8 66.8 56.3
1979 70.1 75.9 62.9 NA NA 61.4 85.6 66.2 NA 78.4 63.0 68.6 78.1 72.0 56.7
1980 70.5 75.1 63.9 NA NA 65.4 90.3 66.5 NA 77.2 65.9 69.2 76.7 73.1 56.1
1981 74.1 77.8 66.0 NA NA 70.1 91.8 68.5 NA 78.7 67.4 70.8 76.5 72.7 59.0
1982 76.2 77.3 68.7 NA NA 73.5 92.1 73.3 NA 78.8 68.6 72.1 79.7 75.4 62.3
1983 80.0 82.4 69.6 NA NA 81.0 96.6 75.0 NA 82.6 71.8 77.8 82.4 80.9 67.1
1984 83.2 90.2 71.9 NA NA 85.0 96.1 76.1 NA 85.4 78.4 85.4 87.4 85.2 70.7
1985 86.0 92.4 77.3 NA NA 87.0 96.7 79.1 NA 89.1 82.6 89.0 90.2 86.2 72.3
1986 86.0 90.0 76.9 NA NA 87.8 91.1 80.4 NA 89.6 83.8 90.8 89.0 87.5 74.8
1987 92.9 90.6 81.2 NA NA 88.9 90.6 81.8 NA 88.1 85.7 91.6 93.3 89.2 79.4
1988 96.9 90.9 84.8 NA NA 92.0 94.1 87.5 NA 91.5 86.7 93.7 92.1 90.5 82.3
1989 95.7 93.7 89.5 NA NA 96.9 99.6 91.9 NA 94.6 89.4 97.1 94.6 93.2 86.2
1990 96.9 95.7 95.4 NA NA 96.8 99.1 93.5 NA 99.0 92.5 98.6 96.6 94.6 88.3
1991 97.8 95.3 99.4 NA NA 99.1 99.6 96.9 99.0 101.9 95.2 99.6 97.5 95.5 92.2
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 102.1 104.5 100.5 NA NA 102.5 104.5 100.6 101.6 100.6 102.9 101.4 100.6 107.3 104.0
1994 107.3 109.9 101.8 NA NA 108.4 NA 108.5 110.1 107.9 105.6 112.7 101.4 119.4 106.8
1995 113.8 111.0 109.3 NA NA 113.2 NA 114.5 113.2 111.2 109.3 117.7 102.0 121.9 104.8
1996 117.0 109.5 115.8 NA NA 115.5 NA 115.0 116.8 115.1 109.5 119.7 102.0 124.5 103.2
1997 121.1 112.8 121.4 NA NA 122.4 NA 122.6 122.4 121.8 111.5 125.7 103.0 133.0 104.0
1998 127.0 112.5 120.4 NA NA 123.6 NA 124.0 126.7 127.1 111.1 127.8 103.9 135.6 104.6
1999 134.8 115.2 124.1 NA NA 124.5 NA 128.9 128.5 NA 112.9 NA 103.9 139.5 109.2
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 18 -
Table 2. Output per employed person in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 NA 29.0 NA NA NA NA 31.8 16.2 NA 19.2 12.7 14.7 32.0 25.7 29.6
1955 NA 34.3 10.4 NA NA NA 34.0 20.2 NA 28.8 18.2 18.9 37.3 28.0 32.3
1960 NA 40.3 17.3 NA NA 22.6 39.2 26.5 NA 38.4 23.0 24.5 46.2 33.8 35.9
1961 NA 42.3 19.3 NA NA 22.9 40.2 28.3 NA 39.6 24.6 24.8 47.2 35.1 35.5
1962 NA 46.2 19.8 NA NA 24.1 42.6 30.0 NA 41.3 26.4 25.6 47.0 37.4 35.9
1963 NA 48.4 21.2 NA NA 25.0 43.3 31.7 NA 42.4 27.3 26.5 49.2 39.2 37.8
1964 NA 50.7 24.0 NA NA 26.5 47.2 33.9 NA 46.1 27.6 28.7 52.3 42.0 40.6
1965 NA 52.9 24.5 NA NA 27.4 49.5 35.9 NA 48.7 29.7 30.5 54.1 44.7 41.2
1966 NA 53.2 27.0 NA NA 29.1 51.0 39.1 NA 50.0 32.6 32.4 56.6 46.5 41.8
1967 NA 53.8 30.6 NA NA 30.3 54.1 41.1 NA 51.7 34.7 34.7 58.1 49.6 43.4
1968 NA 56.8 34.2 NA NA 33.0 57.7 44.1 NA 56.6 37.4 38.2 60.1 53.0 46.9
1969 NA 59.6 38.6 NA NA 35.7 59.3 48.1 NA 60.7 38.5 41.4 64.3 56.0 48.1
1970 NA 58.3 43.0 NA NA 38.3 60.8 50.3 NA 62.4 40.3 44.4 65.7 57.1 48.4
1971 NA 61.7 44.8 NA NA 40.2 64.6 52.8 NA 63.4 39.8 46.5 67.6 59.4 49.5
1972 NA 64.5 48.9 NA NA 43.9 68.4 54.7 NA 66.6 42.9 49.5 70.6 60.7 51.8
1973 NA 67.6 52.8 NA NA 47.6 71.2 57.6 NA 70.4 47.0 53.8 74.6 64.0 56.2
1974 NA 68.1 52.0 NA NA 48.7 75.0 58.1 NA 71.4 48.2 56.0 76.9 65.9 55.3
1975 NA 64.8 52.2 NA NA 48.0 79.9 58.4 NA 72.5 45.8 54.2 75.6 65.5 54.0
1976 NA 70.5 57.0 NA NA 53.8 83.2 62.1 NA 79.9 52.1 60.0 76.0 65.7 56.8
1977 67.0 75.1 59.4 NA NA 56.1 84.1 65.2 NA 81.1 52.9 64.6 74.4 64.1 57.7
1978 67.9 77.5 62.0 NA NA 59.4 84.3 67.6 NA 82.8 56.2 68.2 73.9 64.2 58.2
1979 68.4 76.3 67.5 NA NA 62.6 88.4 70.6 NA 86.0 61.1 70.7 78.0 68.1 58.4
1980 67.9 74.7 68.6 NA NA 65.6 93.9 71.0 NA 83.5 64.1 71.8 77.1 68.4 55.9
1981 71.4 76.8 70.3 NA NA 68.7 94.3 72.1 NA 84.1 65.6 73.8 76.9 68.5 57.9
1982 72.1 75.6 73.0 NA NA 73.7 96.0 74.0 NA 83.7 66.6 75.9 79.4 71.5 61.7
1983 77.8 81.7 74.0 NA NA 79.2 102.1 75.4 NA 87.9 69.7 82.1 82.5 77.8 66.7
1984 82.0 89.3 77.3 NA NA 82.5 101.2 76.7 NA 90.9 76.1 88.8 87.4 83.5 70.8
1985 84.9 92.0 82.8 NA NA 85.7 98.4 79.2 NA 93.1 79.5 90.2 89.8 83.6 73.1
1986 84.8 90.0 81.9 NA NA 86.5 94.9 80.6 NA 93.0 82.6 91.5 88.7 84.5 75.8
1987 92.1 91.4 86.7 NA NA 88.4 92.2 82.6 NA 91.3 86.1 91.9 90.7 87.3 80.1
1988 96.9 93.6 91.7 NA NA 93.0 95.8 88.6 NA 94.4 90.1 94.7 90.3 88.1 85.0
1989 95.7 94.3 95.6 NA NA 97.5 100.2 92.9 NA 96.2 92.7 97.6 93.3 90.6 88.1
1990 96.3 95.9 100.5 NA NA 98.5 98.4 94.1 NA 98.8 93.6 99.1 95.1 93.1 90.0
1991 96.6 95.1 102.5 NA NA 99.2 99.3 96.4 94.6 101.0 95.3 99.8 96.4 94.2 93.0
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 103.4 105.6 98.1 NA NA 100.9 103.6 100.5 99.6 97.6 100.9 101.4 100.9 110.2 103.8
1994 109.7 112.2 99.5 NA NA 109.7 114.0 108.5 108.1 104.7 106.4 112.7 102.0 127.5 108.1
1995 115.5 112.7 107.6 NA NA 113.3 116.9 113.9 110.9 107.3 110.2 118.1 101.6 131.5 107.0
1996 118.7 111.8 114.9 NA NA 116.0 111.6 114.5 112.0 109.3 109.5 119.9 101.1 134.5 105.6
1997 123.7 116.4 119.7 NA NA 123.1 114.9 122.7 117.6 116.0 112.0 125.4 101.9 143.8 106.5
1998 128.4 115.3 116.2 NA NA 124.5 115.1 124.5 123.2 122.3 111.3 127.3 102.9 146.7 105.9
1999 136.2 119.1 119.5 NA NA 126.8 113.7 127.2 125.0 NA 112.7 NA 102.5 151.4 109.2
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 19 -
Table 3. Output in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 NA 22.6 2.2 NA NA NA 26.8 18.4 NA 14.5 9.6 16.8 38.2 30.9 49.8
1955 NA 29.2 4.9 NA NA NA 29.4 22.9 NA 27.5 14.9 23.0 46.7 35.7 58.5
1960 NA 34.2 10.7 NA NA 30.7 40.8 31.0 NA 41.5 21.9 31.7 56.5 45.9 67.7
1961 NA 35.6 12.8 NA NA 32.1 43.0 33.3 NA 44.0 24.2 32.8 58.8 49.0 67.8
1962 NA 40.0 13.9 NA NA 34.6 46.7 35.7 NA 46.2 26.8 34.5 59.3 52.8 68.0
1963 NA 42.8 15.5 NA NA 36.2 47.3 38.4 NA 47.1 28.5 35.9 62.9 55.4 70.4
1964 NA 46.9 18.0 NA NA 39.5 52.9 42.0 NA 51.2 28.9 39.3 67.3 60.3 76.8
1965 NA 51.2 18.7 NA NA 40.8 56.3 44.1 NA 55.0 30.4 42.1 70.9 64.5 79.0
1966 NA 54.5 21.2 NA NA 43.2 57.5 48.1 NA 55.9 33.1 44.3 75.1 66.3 80.4
1967 NA 55.6 25.4 NA NA 43.7 58.1 50.4 NA 54.7 36.4 46.1 77.5 68.5 80.9
1968 NA 58.9 29.3 NA NA 46.7 62.6 53.2 NA 60.3 39.8 50.4 79.4 72.0 86.6
1969 NA 63.0 34.1 NA NA 52.2 66.0 59.6 NA 67.4 42.4 55.3 85.2 77.7 89.9
1970 NA 60.6 38.8 7.0 12.7 57.6 68.0 64.1 NA 70.9 45.8 59.5 89.1 80.7 90.3
1971 NA 64.4 40.7 8.3 15.5 60.1 69.4 68.1 NA 71.6 46.4 61.5 92.3 81.2 89.3
1972 NA 69.5 44.4 9.5 18.9 64.7 75.3 71.3 NA 73.8 49.0 63.2 96.7 81.7 91.2
1973 NA 76.0 50.0 12.3 22.3 70.6 79.5 76.7 NA 78.5 55.3 67.7 102.2 87.5 99.6
1974 NA 77.6 48.7 14.3 21.0 73.4 80.7 78.2 NA 77.7 58.9 70.2 107.3 92.2 98.3
1975 NA 71.8 46.2 16.2 22.0 67.9 78.7 76.6 NA 74.1 55.5 65.6 105.0 92.5 91.6
1976 NA 78.1 50.2 19.9 27.0 73.0 82.5 81.1 NA 79.8 63.8 69.6 105.2 92.5 93.3
1977 72.5 81.5 51.8 22.8 30.6 73.3 82.9 84.8 NA 81.3 66.0 73.1 103.0 87.2 95.1
1978 76.5 86.5 53.3 27.5 37.1 74.3 82.7 86.8 NA 82.8 69.2 75.4 100.6 84.9 95.6
1979 79.0 88.3 57.9 30.1 40.0 76.2 87.4 89.3 NA 87.1 76.4 77.3 104.7 90.3 95.4
1980 75.8 86.0 59.9 29.9 44.0 78.2 91.3 88.7 NA 85.3 80.4 77.4 103.6 90.7 87.2
1981 79.2 88.1 62.1 32.7 47.3 77.2 88.4 87.3 NA 84.4 78.8 77.5 101.7 88.0 81.8
1982 74.6 78.8 64.1 34.6 48.5 80.4 89.8 88.2 NA 81.5 77.5 76.7 101.3 88.3 81.7
1983 79.1 83.0 66.1 39.5 54.1 84.6 95.8 88.0 NA 82.7 77.8 79.1 99.9 93.9 83.4
1984 87.6 93.3 70.4 46.0 62.2 87.2 100.3 87.0 NA 85.2 80.9 83.6 104.7 101.3 86.5
1985 90.0 98.3 76.1 48.8 64.3 89.1 103.5 87.3 NA 88.3 83.3 86.1 108.5 102.9 89.0
1986 88.6 99.4 74.9 57.9 74.7 89.1 103.5 87.3 NA 89.7 85.5 88.3 108.1 104.0 90.1
1987 96.4 103.9 78.4 68.5 84.3 88.8 99.3 87.2 NA 88.0 88.7 89.5 110.7 106.6 94.4
1988 103.2 110.1 84.6 76.7 87.7 93.3 100.8 92.2 NA 90.9 94.5 92.8 105.3 109.8 101.4
1989 102.4 112.6 90.2 79.4 90.8 99.1 104.3 97.2 NA 94.0 98.1 96.9 101.3 110.9 105.4
1990 101.6 108.6 96.3 86.7 90.0 101.0 102.7 99.1 NA 99.1 99.6 100.1 100.2 110.1 105.3
1991 98.3 99.0 101.4 95.0 96.1 100.7 101.7 99.8 102.3 102.8 99.2 100.6 98.3 104.1 100.0
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 103.5 104.6 96.0 105.4 102.4 97.0 99.0 95.7 92.5 91.8 96.4 98.2 102.7 101.9 101.4
1994 111.1 113.2 95.4 116.8 108.5 101.4 109.3 100.3 95.2 93.5 102.2 104.2 106.7 117.1 106.1
1995 118.4 118.1 100.6 129.9 114.9 104.2 114.7 104.9 95.3 93.7 107.2 107.8 109.0 128.4 107.8
1996 121.3 119.8 106.7 138.7 120.3 105.1 109.7 104.6 93.5 92.5 105.6 108.4 110.1 131.1 108.2
1997 127.7 128.1 111.1 147.8 128.3 109.9 112.6 109.7 96.3 95.8 108.3 114.1 115.7 138.6 109.6
1998 133.5 133.1 103.6 136.8 132.6 111.8 115.3 111.5 100.9 100.7 110.3 116.6 117.6 144.6 109.9
1999 139.3 141.3 103.9 166.7 141.1 113.8 111.5 114.2 102.2 NA 111.4 NA 114.0 150.7 109.7
NA: Not Available
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 20 -
Table 4. Total hours in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 85.5 84.7 NA NA NA NA 118.7 140.0 NA 109.8 83.6 148.6 156.0 158.5 195.7
1955 94.6 89.4 55.9 NA NA NA 119.8 138.0 NA 139.6 92.5 159.1 164.1 167.3 213.1
1960 92.1 88.3 76.3 NA NA 170.7 136.5 142.3 NA 142.3 108.7 170.6 154.0 168.3 217.3
1961 89.7 87.1 80.8 NA NA 175.9 136.2 143.8 NA 143.9 110.9 167.1 154.8 171.0 217.4
1962 93.4 90.3 83.4 NA NA 180.3 140.7 144.8 NA 140.8 110.8 169.2 156.2 170.8 213.2
1963 94.4 92.6 86.1 NA NA 181.8 138.0 148.0 NA 138.1 114.9 169.5 157.3 169.1 209.6
1964 96.4 97.2 88.2 NA NA 186.5 142.6 149.7 NA 138.0 115.2 170.0 159.5 169.6 214.6
1965 102.0 101.9 88.0 NA NA 183.2 144.9 146.9 NA 140.0 108.8 170.4 158.4 168.8 214.3
1966 108.6 106.8 91.0 NA NA 181.5 140.8 148.3 NA 136.7 109.4 168.3 161.1 166.5 211.2
1967 108.0 107.9 96.3 NA NA 173.6 132.7 146.2 NA 125.9 114.5 162.7 160.4 158.4 203.0
1968 109.6 108.2 99.4 NA NA 170.9 130.9 139.7 NA 128.3 116.0 158.8 154.9 152.6 202.8
1969 110.9 109.7 100.9 NA NA 174.9 132.7 147.1 NA 133.8 119.2 158.5 152.0 152.5 205.6
1970 104.4 107.1 102.3 NA NA 174.7 129.0 149.0 NA 136.3 120.9 156.2 154.3 154.7 202.1
1971 100.5 107.4 101.1 NA NA 171.4 123.3 149.7 NA 132.5 120.6 152.4 153.6 149.1 190.6
1972 105.1 110.8 100.6 NA NA 165.2 123.8 149.9 NA 128.7 117.5 144.9 152.1 142.9 184.3
1973 110.4 114.9 104.0 NA NA 162.1 118.8 150.7 NA 128.4 122.4 140.2 151.2 142.5 187.8
1974 107.9 115.5 98.7 NA NA 160.4 116.7 150.3 NA 122.9 122.4 135.4 152.0 144.0 182.4
1975 97.2 111.1 91.1 NA NA 142.6 103.5 142.3 NA 112.5 119.3 128.2 150.5 142.3 173.6
1976 101.9 111.0 93.3 NA NA 139.4 104.7 141.9 NA 113.1 120.5 122.7 146.2 140.2 169.5
1977 106.1 108.8 92.5 NA NA 133.3 103.1 140.1 NA 111.8 122.2 119.1 144.1 134.2 171.2
1978 110.6 112.8 91.6 NA NA 127.4 101.4 137.3 NA 110.1 120.4 115.2 138.3 127.1 169.7
1979 112.7 116.2 92.0 NA NA 124.2 102.1 134.9 NA 111.0 121.4 112.7 134.1 125.5 168.1
1980 107.5 114.6 93.8 NA NA 119.7 101.1 133.3 NA 110.5 122.0 111.8 135.0 124.0 155.3
1981 107.0 113.2 94.1 NA NA 110.2 96.3 127.4 NA 107.1 116.8 109.4 133.0 121.0 138.6
1982 97.9 102.0 93.3 NA NA 109.4 97.5 120.3 NA 103.4 113.0 106.3 127.1 117.2 131.2
1983 98.9 100.7 95.0 NA NA 104.3 99.2 117.4 NA 100.1 108.4 101.6 121.2 116.1 124.2
1984 105.3 103.3 97.9 NA NA 102.6 104.4 114.2 NA 99.7 103.2 97.9 119.7 118.9 122.4
1985 104.6 106.4 98.4 NA NA 102.4 107.0 110.4 NA 99.1 100.8 96.7 120.2 119.4 123.1
1986 103.0 110.5 97.3 NA NA 101.5 113.7 108.6 NA 100.1 102.1 97.3 121.6 118.9 120.4
1987 103.8 114.7 96.6 NA NA 100.0 109.6 106.6 NA 99.9 103.5 97.7 118.6 119.5 118.9
1988 106.6 121.2 99.8 NA NA 101.5 107.2 105.4 NA 99.3 108.9 99.0 114.3 121.4 123.2
1989 107.1 120.2 100.8 NA NA 102.3 104.7 105.8 NA 99.3 109.7 99.8 107.1 119.0 122.3
1990 104.8 113.5 100.9 NA NA 104.3 103.7 105.9 NA 100.1 107.7 101.5 103.7 116.4 119.2
1991 100.4 103.9 102.0 NA NA 101.5 102.1 103.0 103.3 100.9 104.2 101.0 100.8 109.0 108.5
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 101.4 100.1 95.6 NA NA 94.7 94.8 95.1 91.0 91.3 93.6 96.9 102.1 94.9 97.5
1994 103.6 103.0 93.7 NA NA 93.6 NA 92.4 86.5 86.7 96.7 92.4 105.2 98.1 99.4
1995 104.0 106.4 92.0 NA NA 92.0 NA 91.6 84.2 84.3 98.0 91.6 106.9 105.3 102.9
1996 103.7 109.4 92.2 NA NA 91.0 NA 91.0 80.1 80.4 96.5 90.5 107.9 105.3 104.8
1997 105.5 113.5 91.5 NA NA 89.8 NA 89.5 78.7 78.6 97.1 90.8 112.3 104.2 105.4
1998 105.2 118.3 86.1 NA NA 90.5 NA 89.9 79.6 79.3 99.3 91.2 113.2 106.6 105.0
1999 103.3 122.7 83.8 NA NA 91.5 NA 88.6 79.5 NA 98.6 NA 109.8 108.0 100.5
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 21 -
Table 5. Employment in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 84.3 77.9 NA NA NA NA 84.4 113.7 NA 75.2 75.8 114.1 119.3 120.1 168.4
1955 93.1 85.3 47.1 NA NA NA 86.7 113.3 NA 95.5 81.9 121.8 125.2 127.7 181.1
1960 92.6 84.8 61.7 NA NA 135.7 104.1 116.9 NA 108.1 95.1 129.4 122.2 135.7 188.5
1961 90.0 84.1 66.4 NA NA 140.1 107.0 117.7 NA 111.3 98.1 132.2 124.8 139.6 191.1
1962 92.8 86.5 70.0 NA NA 143.3 109.7 118.9 NA 111.8 101.2 134.7 126.3 140.9 189.4
1963 93.5 88.5 72.8 NA NA 144.7 109.3 121.5 NA 111.0 104.4 135.4 127.8 141.4 186.4
1964 94.9 92.5 75.0 NA NA 148.8 112.0 123.7 NA 111.0 104.7 137.1 128.8 143.4 189.2
1965 99.3 96.9 76.1 NA NA 148.7 113.9 122.5 NA 113.0 102.3 137.9 130.9 144.4 191.7
1966 105.4 102.4 78.3 NA NA 148.5 112.8 123.2 NA 111.8 101.7 137.0 132.8 142.7 192.2
1967 106.7 103.3 82.8 NA NA 143.9 107.5 122.7 NA 105.8 105.0 132.9 133.5 138.2 186.3
1968 108.5 103.8 85.7 NA NA 141.5 108.5 120.6 NA 106.6 106.4 132.1 132.0 136.0 184.5
1969 110.6 105.7 88.2 NA NA 146.3 111.4 124.1 NA 111.0 110.0 133.7 132.6 138.7 187.1
1970 106.3 103.9 90.3 NA NA 150.2 111.9 127.3 NA 113.6 113.6 134.3 135.6 141.2 186.7
1971 102.2 104.4 90.7 NA NA 149.6 107.3 128.9 NA 112.9 116.7 132.2 136.4 136.7 180.4
1972 105.0 107.7 90.8 NA NA 147.4 110.1 130.4 NA 110.8 114.4 127.5 136.9 134.6 176.1
1973 110.5 112.5 94.6 NA NA 148.4 111.6 133.2 NA 111.5 117.8 125.8 136.9 136.8 177.2
1974 110.1 113.9 93.7 NA NA 150.7 107.6 134.6 NA 108.9 122.1 125.4 139.5 140.0 177.8
1975 100.6 110.9 88.5 NA NA 141.5 98.5 131.2 NA 102.2 121.1 121.0 138.7 141.3 169.7
1976 104.2 110.7 88.0 NA NA 135.8 99.2 130.5 NA 99.9 122.3 116.0 138.4 141.0 164.3
1977 108.2 108.5 87.1 NA NA 130.5 98.5 130.0 NA 100.3 124.7 113.1 138.5 136.0 164.8
1978 112.7 111.7 85.9 NA NA 125.0 98.0 128.4 NA 100.0 123.1 110.5 136.1 132.3 164.2
1979 115.6 115.7 85.7 NA NA 121.8 98.8 126.5 NA 101.2 125.0 109.3 134.2 132.7 163.2
1980 111.6 115.1 87.4 NA NA 119.3 97.2 125.0 NA 102.2 125.4 107.8 134.5 132.6 155.9
1981 111.0 114.8 88.3 NA NA 112.4 93.8 121.0 NA 100.3 120.1 105.0 132.3 128.4 141.2
1982 103.5 104.3 87.9 NA NA 109.2 93.6 119.1 NA 97.4 116.4 101.0 127.5 123.4 132.5
1983 101.8 101.6 89.3 NA NA 106.8 93.9 116.7 NA 94.1 111.7 96.4 121.0 120.7 125.1
1984 106.8 104.4 91.1 NA NA 105.7 99.1 113.4 NA 93.7 106.3 94.2 119.8 121.3 122.2
1985 106.0 106.8 91.9 NA NA 104.0 105.2 110.3 NA 94.9 104.8 95.4 120.7 123.1 121.7
1986 104.5 110.4 91.4 NA NA 103.0 109.1 108.3 NA 96.4 103.5 96.5 122.0 123.1 118.9
1987 104.7 113.7 90.4 NA NA 100.5 107.7 105.6 NA 96.4 103.0 97.4 122.0 122.1 117.9
1988 106.6 117.6 92.4 NA NA 100.4 105.3 104.1 NA 96.3 104.8 98.0 116.6 124.6 119.3
1989 107.0 119.4 94.3 NA NA 101.7 104.1 104.7 NA 97.6 105.8 99.3 108.7 122.5 119.7
1990 105.4 113.2 95.8 NA NA 102.5 104.3 105.4 NA 100.3 106.4 101.1 105.4 118.3 116.9
1991 101.8 104.1 98.9 NA NA 101.5 102.4 103.6 108.1 101.8 104.1 100.7 101.9 110.5 107.5
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 100.1 99.1 97.9 NA NA 96.1 95.5 95.2 92.9 94.0 95.5 96.9 101.8 92.4 97.7
1994 101.3 100.9 95.9 NA NA 92.5 95.8 92.4 88.1 89.3 96.0 92.4 104.7 91.8 98.2
1995 102.5 104.8 93.5 NA NA 91.9 98.1 92.1 86.0 87.3 97.2 91.3 107.2 97.7 100.7
1996 102.2 107.2 92.9 NA NA 90.6 98.3 91.3 83.5 84.6 96.4 90.3 108.9 97.4 102.5
1997 103.2 110.1 92.8 NA NA 89.3 97.9 89.4 81.9 82.6 96.7 91.0 113.6 96.4 102.9
1998 104.0 115.4 89.2 NA NA 89.8 100.2 89.6 81.9 82.4 99.1 91.5 114.3 98.6 103.8
1999 102.3 118.7 87.0 NA NA 89.8 98.1 89.8 81.7 NA 98.8 NA 111.3 99.6 100.5
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 22 -
Table 6. Average annual hours in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 101.4 108.8 NA NA NA NA 140.7 123.1 NA 146.0 110.2 130.3 130.8 131.9 116.2
1955 101.5 104.8 118.7 NA NA NA 138.2 121.8 NA 146.1 113.0 130.6 131.1 131.0 117.7
1960 99.5 104.1 123.5 NA NA 125.8 131.2 121.8 NA 131.7 114.3 131.9 126.0 124.0 115.3
1961 99.6 103.6 121.6 NA NA 125.5 127.3 122.2 NA 129.4 113.1 126.5 124.1 122.5 113.7
1962 100.6 104.4 119.2 NA NA 125.8 128.3 121.8 NA 126.0 109.5 125.6 123.7 121.2 112.6
1963 100.9 104.7 118.2 NA NA 125.7 126.3 121.8 NA 124.4 110.0 125.2 123.1 119.6 112.5
1964 101.6 105.1 117.6 NA NA 125.3 127.4 121.0 NA 124.3 110.0 124.0 123.9 118.2 113.4
1965 102.7 105.1 115.6 NA NA 123.2 127.2 119.9 NA 123.9 106.4 123.6 121.0 116.9 111.8
1966 103.0 104.4 116.2 NA NA 122.2 124.8 120.4 NA 122.3 107.6 122.9 121.3 116.7 109.8
1967 101.2 104.4 116.3 NA NA 120.7 123.4 119.2 NA 119.0 109.1 122.4 120.2 114.7 109.0
1968 101.0 104.2 116.0 NA NA 120.7 120.6 115.9 NA 120.4 109.1 120.2 117.3 112.2 109.9
1969 100.2 103.8 114.4 NA NA 119.5 119.1 118.6 NA 120.6 108.3 118.5 114.6 110.0 109.9
1970 98.2 103.2 113.3 NA NA 116.3 115.3 117.1 NA 119.9 106.4 116.4 113.8 109.5 108.2
1971 98.4 102.8 111.4 NA NA 114.6 114.9 116.1 NA 117.3 103.4 115.3 112.6 109.0 105.6
1972 100.0 102.9 110.8 NA NA 112.0 112.4 115.0 NA 116.2 102.7 113.6 111.0 106.2 104.7
1973 99.9 102.1 109.9 NA NA 109.3 106.4 113.2 NA 115.2 103.9 111.4 110.4 104.2 106.0
1974 98.0 101.4 105.3 NA NA 106.4 108.5 111.7 NA 112.9 100.3 108.0 108.9 102.9 102.6
1975 96.6 100.2 103.0 NA NA 100.7 105.1 108.4 NA 110.1 98.5 106.0 108.5 100.7 102.3
1976 97.7 100.3 106.0 NA NA 102.6 105.6 108.7 NA 113.2 98.5 105.8 105.7 99.5 103.2
1977 98.1 100.2 106.2 NA NA 102.1 104.6 107.8 NA 111.5 98.0 105.3 104.0 98.7 103.8
1978 98.1 101.0 106.7 NA NA 101.9 103.4 106.9 NA 110.1 97.8 104.3 101.6 96.1 103.4
1979 97.5 100.5 107.3 NA NA 102.0 103.3 106.6 NA 109.7 97.1 103.1 99.9 94.6 103.0
1980 96.3 99.5 107.3 NA NA 100.4 104.0 106.7 NA 108.1 97.3 103.7 100.4 93.6 99.6
1981 96.4 98.6 106.5 NA NA 98.1 102.7 105.3 NA 106.8 97.3 104.2 100.6 94.2 98.1
1982 94.6 97.8 106.2 NA NA 100.2 104.2 101.0 NA 106.2 97.1 105.3 99.7 94.9 99.1
1983 97.2 99.1 106.4 NA NA 97.7 105.6 100.6 NA 106.4 97.1 105.4 100.1 96.2 99.4
1984 98.6 99.0 107.4 NA NA 97.1 105.3 100.8 NA 106.4 97.1 104.0 99.9 98.0 100.2
1985 98.7 99.6 107.1 NA NA 98.5 101.8 100.1 NA 104.5 96.2 101.3 99.6 96.9 101.1
1986 98.6 100.0 106.5 NA NA 98.6 104.2 100.3 NA 103.9 98.6 100.8 99.7 96.5 101.3
1987 99.1 100.9 106.8 NA NA 99.4 101.8 100.9 NA 103.6 100.4 100.3 97.2 97.9 100.8
1988 100.0 103.0 108.0 NA NA 101.1 101.8 101.3 NA 103.2 104.0 101.1 98.0 97.5 103.2
1989 100.0 100.7 106.8 NA NA 100.6 100.6 101.1 NA 101.7 103.7 100.5 98.6 97.2 102.2
1990 99.4 100.2 105.3 NA NA 101.8 99.4 100.6 NA 99.8 101.2 100.5 98.4 98.5 101.9
1991 98.7 99.8 103.2 NA NA 100.0 99.7 99.4 95.5 99.1 100.1 100.2 98.9 98.7 100.9
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 101.3 101.1 97.7 NA NA 98.5 99.2 99.9 98.0 97.0 98.0 100.0 100.3 102.8 99.8
1994 102.2 102.0 97.7 NA NA 101.2 NA 100.0 98.2 97.1 100.7 100.0 100.5 106.8 101.3
1995 101.5 101.5 98.4 NA NA 100.1 NA 99.5 98.0 96.5 100.8 100.3 99.7 107.8 102.2
1996 101.5 102.1 99.2 NA NA 100.5 NA 99.6 95.9 95.0 100.0 100.2 99.1 108.1 102.3
1997 102.2 103.2 98.6 NA NA 100.6 NA 100.1 96.0 95.2 100.4 99.8 98.9 108.2 102.4
1998 101.2 102.5 96.5 NA NA 100.8 NA 100.4 97.2 96.2 100.2 99.6 99.1 108.2 101.2
1999 101.0 103.4 96.3 NA NA 101.9 NA 98.7 97.3 NA 99.8 NA 98.7 108.5 100.0
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 23 -
Table 7. Hourly compensation in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada*Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France*(unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden*Kingdom*
1950 8.7 5.4 NA NA NA NA 2.5 1.6 NA 3.4 .8 3.1 2.2 1.9 1.6
1955 11.7 7.7 3.1 NA NA NA 3.4 2.8 NA 5.0 1.2 4.5 3.4 2.9 2.3
1960 14.9 9.9 4.3 NA NA 5.4 4.6 4.3 NA 8.1 1.6 6.4 4.7 4.1 3.1
1961 15.3 10.2 5.0 NA NA 5.7 5.2 4.7 NA 9.1 1.8 7.3 5.2 4.5 3.3
1962 15.9 10.6 5.7 NA NA 6.2 5.6 5.2 NA 10.3 2.1 7.8 5.7 5.0 3.4
1963 16.4 11.0 6.4 NA NA 6.8 6.1 5.7 NA 11.0 2.5 8.6 6.1 5.5 3.6
1964 17.0 11.5 7.2 NA NA 7.7 6.6 6.2 NA 11.9 2.6 9.9 6.5 6.0 3.8
1965 17.4 12.2 8.1 NA NA 8.5 7.4 6.7 NA 13.1 2.8 11.1 7.2 6.6 4.2
1966 18.2 13.1 9.0 NA NA 9.4 8.4 7.1 NA 14.2 3.0 12.5 7.8 7.3 4.5
1967 19.2 13.7 10.0 NA NA 10.3 9.4 7.6 NA 15.0 3.3 13.8 8.7 8.1 4.7
1968 20.7 14.7 11.7 NA NA 11.0 10.3 8.6 NA 16.1 3.5 15.4 9.6 8.8 5.0
1969 22.2 15.9 13.8 NA NA 12.1 11.6 9.2 NA 17.6 3.9 17.4 10.6 9.6 5.5
1970 23.7 17.0 16.5 NA NA 13.7 13.3 10.3 NA 20.7 4.7 20.2 11.8 10.7 6.3
1971 25.2 18.1 19.0 NA NA 15.9 15.2 11.6 NA 23.2 5.4 23.1 13.5 12.1 7.2
1972 26.5 19.4 21.9 NA NA 18.8 16.9 12.8 NA 25.6 6.1 26.5 15.1 13.5 8.3
1973 28.5 21.1 26.8 NA NA 22.3 20.5 14.7 NA 29.0 7.2 31.6 17.0 15.2 9.5
1974 31.6 24.6 35.1 NA NA 27.4 24.8 17.4 NA 33.0 9.3 37.7 19.9 17.9 11.4
1975 35.5 28.2 40.9 NA NA 33.1 29.6 21.3 NA 36.4 11.8 43.1 23.8 21.9 15.1
1976 38.4 32.4 44.0 NA NA 38.3 33.0 24.4 NA 39.1 14.6 48.1 27.5 25.7 17.6
1977 41.8 36.0 48.6 NA NA 41.4 36.5 27.7 NA 42.8 17.3 52.5 30.9 28.1 19.8
1978 45.2 38.7 51.8 NA NA 44.4 40.2 31.2 NA 45.9 20.0 56.8 34.1 31.1 23.1
1979 49.6 42.6 55.1 NA NA 47.2 45.0 35.4 NA 49.3 24.2 61.1 35.8 33.5 27.5
1980 55.6 47.4 58.6 NA NA 52.5 49.6 40.8 NA 53.6 28.4 64.4 39.0 37.3 33.2
1981 61.1 53.7 62.7 NA NA 57.3 54.6 47.2 NA 57.0 34.3 67.4 43.3 41.2 38.5
1982 67.0 60.9 65.8 NA NA 59.9 59.5 56.1 NA 60.4 40.4 71.5 48.2 44.2 42.4
1983 68.8 65.2 67.6 NA NA 65.7 63.6 61.9 NA 63.1 47.2 74.9 52.9 49.0 45.5
1984 71.2 68.9 69.7 NA NA 71.4 67.2 67.2 NA 66.0 54.1 77.7 57.9 53.2 49.1
1985 75.1 71.8 72.5 NA NA 75.3 71.7 72.8 NA 70.0 60.8 81.8 63.4 58.6 53.1
1986 78.5 72.8 76.1 NA NA 77.3 73.2 75.8 NA 72.8 63.3 85.0 69.1 63.4 57.6
1987 80.7 74.6 77.9 NA NA 79.7 80.1 78.6 NA 76.0 66.8 87.8 78.5 67.6 64.8
1988 84.0 77.4 79.2 NA NA 81.1 82.9 81.6 NA 79.1 69.3 87.7 83.3 71.8 67.7
1989 86.6 82.5 84.2 NA NA 85.9 87.7 86.0 NA 83.2 75.9 88.5 87.2 79.4 72.9
1990 90.8 88.3 90.7 NA NA 90.1 92.7 90.6 NA 89.4 84.4 90.8 92.3 87.8 80.9
1991 95.6 95.0 95.9 NA NA 97.3 95.9 96.2 92.1 95.1 93.6 95.2 97.5 95.5 90.5
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 102.7 102.0 104.6 NA NA 104.8 104.6 103.0 106.1 105.9 107.5 103.7 101.5 97.2 104.3
1994 105.6 103.7 106.7 NA NA 106.1 NA 105.6 112.3 111.7 107.8 108.2 104.4 99.8 106.5
1995 107.9 106.0 109.5 NA NA 109.2 NA 108.4 118.5 117.7 112.8 110.6 109.2 106.3 107.4
1996 109.3 105.1 110.9 NA NA 110.4 NA 110.2 125.2 123.7 120.3 113.2 113.6 114.2 108.2
1997 111.4 108.2 113.9 NA NA 114.2 NA 113.0 128.0 126.6 125.4 115.8 118.7 119.7 111.4
1998 117.3 111.2 115.8 NA NA 115.8 NA 114.9 128.9 127.6 123.0 118.3 126.2 123.3 117.0
1999 123.2 113.0 117.7 NA NA 116.3 NA 119.3 130.8 NA 126.5 NA 133.4 127.4 122.6
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees, but are labor
costs to employers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 24 -
Table 8. Hourly compensation in manufacturing, U.S. dollar basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada*Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France*(unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden*Kingdom*
1950 8.7 6.0 NA NA NA NA 2.2 2.4 NA 1.3 1.7 1.4 1.9 2.1 2.5
1955 11.7 9.4 1.1 NA NA NA 3.0 4.3 NA 1.9 2.4 2.1 2.9 3.3 3.6
1960 14.9 12.4 1.5 NA NA 3.5 4.0 4.6 NA 3.0 3.2 3.0 4.1 4.6 4.9
1961 15.3 12.2 1.8 NA NA 3.7 4.5 5.1 NA 3.5 3.5 3.5 4.5 5.0 5.2
1962 15.9 12.0 2.0 NA NA 4.0 4.9 5.6 NA 4.0 4.1 3.8 4.9 5.6 5.5
1963 16.4 12.3 2.3 NA NA 4.4 5.4 6.1 NA 4.3 4.9 4.2 5.3 6.2 5.7
1964 17.0 12.9 2.5 NA NA 5.0 5.8 6.6 NA 4.7 5.2 4.8 5.6 6.8 6.1
1965 17.4 13.6 2.8 NA NA 5.5 6.4 7.2 NA 5.1 5.5 5.4 6.2 7.5 6.6
1966 18.2 14.6 3.1 NA NA 6.1 7.3 7.6 NA 5.5 5.9 6.1 6.8 8.2 7.2
1967 19.2 15.4 3.5 NA NA 6.7 8.1 8.2 NA 5.9 6.5 6.7 7.6 9.1 7.3
1968 20.7 16.5 4.1 NA NA 7.1 8.3 9.2 NA 6.3 7.0 7.5 8.4 9.9 6.8
1969 22.2 17.8 4.9 NA NA 7.7 9.3 9.4 NA 7.0 7.6 8.5 9.2 10.8 7.4
1970 23.7 19.7 5.8 NA NA 8.9 10.7 9.9 NA 8.9 9.2 9.8 10.3 12.1 8.6
1971 25.2 21.7 6.9 NA NA 10.5 12.4 11.1 NA 10.4 10.8 11.6 11.9 13.8 10.0
1972 26.5 23.7 9.2 NA NA 13.7 14.7 13.4 NA 12.6 12.8 14.5 14.2 16.5 11.8
1973 28.5 25.5 12.5 NA NA 18.5 20.5 17.5 NA 17.1 15.1 20.0 18.4 20.3 13.2
1974 31.6 30.3 15.3 NA NA 22.6 24.6 19.2 NA 19.9 17.7 24.7 22.4 23.5 15.1
1975 35.5 33.5 17.5 NA NA 29.0 31.1 26.3 NA 23.1 22.3 30.1 28.4 30.8 19.0
1976 38.4 39.8 18.8 NA NA 31.9 32.9 27.0 NA 24.3 21.7 32.0 31.3 34.3 17.9
1977 41.8 41.0 23.0 NA NA 37.1 36.7 29.8 NA 28.8 24.2 37.6 36.0 36.7 19.6
1978 45.2 41.0 31.5 NA NA 45.4 44.1 36.7 NA 35.8 29.0 46.2 40.4 40.2 25.1
1979 49.6 43.9 32.0 NA NA 51.7 51.6 44.0 NA 42.0 35.9 53.5 43.9 45.6 33.0
1980 55.6 49.0 32.8 NA NA 57.7 53.2 51.1 NA 46.1 40.8 57.0 49.0 51.4 43.7
1981 61.1 54.1 36.1 NA NA 49.5 46.2 46.0 NA 39.3 37.1 47.4 46.9 47.4 44.1
1982 67.0 59.6 33.5 NA NA 42.1 43.0 45.1 NA 38.8 36.8 47.1 46.4 41.0 42.0
1983 68.8 63.9 36.1 NA NA 41.3 42.0 43.0 NA 38.6 38.2 46.1 45.0 37.2 39.0
1984 71.2 64.3 37.2 NA NA 39.7 39.2 40.7 NA 36.3 37.9 42.6 44.1 37.5 37.2
1985 75.1 63.5 38.5 NA NA 40.8 40.9 42.9 NA 37.2 39.2 43.3 45.8 39.7 39.0
1986 78.5 63.3 57.3 NA NA 55.6 54.6 57.9 NA 52.4 52.3 61.1 58.1 51.8 47.8
1987 80.7 68.0 68.3 NA NA 68.6 70.6 69.2 NA 66.0 63.5 76.2 72.3 62.1 60.2
1988 84.0 76.0 78.4 NA NA 70.9 74.3 72.5 NA 70.4 65.5 78.0 79.3 68.2 68.3
1989 86.6 84.1 77.3 NA NA 70.1 72.3 71.4 NA 69.1 68.1 73.4 78.4 71.6 67.7
1990 90.8 91.5 79.3 NA NA 86.6 90.4 88.0 NA 86.4 86.8 87.7 91.7 86.4 81.7
1991 95.6 100.1 90.3 NA NA 91.5 90.5 90.2 86.6 89.4 92.9 89.4 93.3 91.9 90.5
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 102.7 95.5 119.3 NA NA 97.4 97.4 96.2 100.2 100.0 84.2 98.1 88.8 72.6 88.7
1994 105.6 91.7 132.4 NA NA 102.1 NA 100.8 108.1 107.6 82.4 104.6 92.0 75.4 92.3
1995 107.9 93.3 147.7 NA NA 119.1 NA 115.1 129.2 128.3 85.3 121.2 107.1 86.8 95.9
1996 109.3 93.1 129.3 NA NA 114.6 NA 114.1 129.9 128.4 96.1 118.0 109.3 99.1 95.6
1997 111.4 94.4 119.3 NA NA 102.5 NA 102.5 115.3 114.0 90.7 104.3 104.1 91.2 103.3
1998 117.3 90.6 112.1 NA NA 102.5 NA 103.1 114.4 113.3 87.3 104.9 103.8 90.3 109.8
1999 123.2 91.9 131.2 NA NA 98.7 NA 102.6 111.3 NA 85.8 NA 106.2 89.7 112.2
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees, but are labor
costs to employers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 25 -
Table 9. Unit labor costs in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada*Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France*(unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden*Kingdom*
1950 NA 20.3 NA NA NA NA 11.0 12.2 NA 25.5 7.3 27.5 9.0 9.5 6.3
1955 NA 23.5 36.1 NA NA NA 13.8 17.0 NA 25.4 7.5 31.3 11.8 13.8 8.3
1960 NA 25.6 30.9 NA NA 30.1 15.4 19.5 NA 27.8 7.9 34.4 12.9 15.0 9.8
1961 NA 25.0 31.8 NA NA 31.5 16.3 20.3 NA 29.7 8.1 37.1 13.6 15.6 10.5
1962 NA 23.9 34.6 NA NA 32.1 17.0 21.1 NA 31.5 8.6 38.2 15.0 16.2 10.8
1963 NA 23.8 35.7 NA NA 34.2 17.9 21.8 NA 32.2 9.9 40.4 15.2 16.9 10.7
1964 NA 23.8 35.4 NA NA 36.3 17.9 22.0 NA 32.1 10.5 42.9 15.4 16.9 10.7
1965 NA 24.2 38.3 NA NA 38.3 18.9 22.3 NA 33.3 10.1 45.1 16.0 17.4 11.4
1966 NA 25.6 38.5 NA NA 39.6 20.5 21.8 NA 34.7 9.9 47.3 16.8 18.3 11.9
1967 NA 26.7 38.1 NA NA 40.9 21.4 22.1 NA 34.5 10.4 48.8 18.1 18.7 11.7
1968 NA 26.9 39.6 NA NA 40.3 21.6 22.6 NA 34.3 10.2 48.4 18.8 18.6 11.7
1969 NA 27.6 41.0 NA NA 40.4 23.4 22.7 NA 35.0 10.9 50.0 19.0 18.8 12.5
1970 NA 30.1 43.3 8.3 23.3 41.7 25.2 24.0 NA 39.8 12.4 52.9 20.4 20.6 14.1
1971 NA 30.2 47.3 8.8 24.4 45.2 27.1 25.5 NA 42.9 14.1 57.1 22.5 22.2 15.4
1972 NA 31.0 49.6 9.7 24.4 47.9 27.8 26.9 NA 44.7 14.6 60.8 23.7 23.6 16.8
1973 NA 32.0 55.7 11.6 28.2 51.2 30.6 28.8 NA 47.5 15.8 65.3 25.1 24.8 17.9
1974 NA 36.6 71.1 14.2 42.7 59.9 35.9 33.5 NA 52.1 19.4 72.7 28.2 27.9 21.1
1975 NA 43.6 80.6 16.3 43.4 69.5 38.9 39.5 NA 55.2 25.4 84.3 34.2 33.7 28.7
1976 NA 46.2 81.9 20.7 44.6 73.1 41.8 42.7 NA 55.4 27.7 84.8 38.3 38.9 31.9
1977 61.2 48.1 86.8 24.4 46.4 75.3 45.4 45.8 NA 58.8 32.1 85.5 43.2 43.3 35.7
1978 65.3 50.5 89.1 29.3 46.5 76.1 49.3 49.4 NA 61.1 34.7 86.8 46.8 46.6 41.1
1979 70.8 56.0 87.5 35.9 52.8 76.8 52.5 53.5 NA 62.9 38.4 89.0 45.8 46.6 48.5
1980 78.8 63.2 91.7 45.1 61.1 80.3 55.0 61.3 NA 69.4 43.1 93.0 50.8 51.0 59.1
1981 82.4 69.0 95.1 52.1 70.9 81.7 59.5 69.0 NA 72.4 50.9 95.1 56.6 56.6 65.3
1982 87.9 78.8 95.8 55.6 75.5 81.5 64.6 76.5 NA 76.7 58.9 99.2 60.5 58.7 68.1
1983 86.0 79.0 97.2 59.6 73.9 81.1 65.8 82.6 NA 76.4 65.7 96.2 64.2 60.6 67.8
1984 85.6 76.3 96.8 61.9 76.8 84.0 69.9 88.2 NA 77.3 68.9 90.9 66.3 62.4 69.4
1985 87.3 77.7 93.8 62.1 80.0 86.5 74.2 92.0 NA 78.6 73.5 91.8 70.2 68.0 73.5
1986 91.2 81.0 99.0 62.1 82.1 88.0 80.4 94.3 NA 81.2 75.6 93.7 77.7 72.4 76.9
1987 86.9 82.4 96.0 66.9 82.1 89.7 88.4 96.1 NA 86.3 78.0 95.9 84.1 75.8 81.6
1988 86.7 85.2 93.4 76.1 84.4 88.1 88.2 93.3 NA 86.5 79.9 93.6 90.4 79.4 82.2
1989 90.5 88.0 94.0 81.5 88.3 88.7 88.1 93.6 NA 87.9 84.9 91.1 92.2 85.1 84.6
1990 93.7 92.3 95.0 85.9 95.1 93.0 93.6 96.8 NA 90.3 91.3 92.1 95.6 92.8 91.6
1991 97.7 99.7 96.5 95.0 96.4 98.1 96.3 99.3 93.1 93.3 98.4 95.5 100.0 100.0 98.2
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 100.6 97.6 104.1 103.8 100.9 102.3 100.1 102.4 104.5 105.3 104.4 102.3 100.9 90.6 100.3
1994 98.5 94.3 104.9 108.2 101.9 97.9 93.0 97.3 102.0 103.6 102.1 96.0 102.9 83.6 99.7
1995 94.8 95.5 100.1 120.4 102.1 96.4 93.8 94.7 104.7 105.9 103.2 94.0 107.1 87.2 102.5
1996 93.5 95.9 95.8 126.5 101.6 95.6 100.9 95.9 107.2 107.5 109.9 94.6 111.4 91.7 104.8
1997 92.0 95.9 93.8 116.1 100.0 93.3 102.0 92.2 104.6 103.9 112.4 92.2 115.2 90.0 107.1
1998 92.4 98.8 96.2 113.6 101.4 93.7 102.8 92.7 101.8 100.4 110.8 92.5 121.5 90.9 111.9
1999 91.4 98.1 94.9 108.7 99.1 93.4 108.9 92.6 101.8 NA 112.0 NA 128.5 91.3 112.3
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Korea, Taiwan, Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees, but are labor
costs to employers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 26 -
Table 10. Unit labor costs in manufacturing, U.S. dollar basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada*Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France*(unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden*Kingdom*
1950 NA 22.5 NA NA NA NA 9.6 18.5 NA 9.5 14.4 12.7 7.8 10.7 10.0
1955 NA 28.8 12.7 NA NA NA 12.0 25.7 NA 9.4 14.8 14.5 10.2 15.5 13.2
1960 NA 32.0 10.9 NA NA 19.4 13.5 21.1 NA 10.4 15.6 16.0 11.3 16.9 15.6
1961 NA 29.8 11.2 NA NA 20.3 14.3 21.9 NA 11.6 16.0 18.0 11.9 17.6 16.7
1962 NA 27.0 12.1 NA NA 20.7 14.9 22.8 NA 12.3 17.1 18.7 13.0 18.3 17.1
1963 NA 26.7 12.5 NA NA 22.0 15.7 23.5 NA 12.6 19.7 19.8 13.2 18.9 17.0
1964 NA 26.7 12.4 NA NA 23.5 15.6 23.7 NA 12.6 20.7 20.9 13.3 19.2 16.9
1965 NA 27.1 13.4 NA NA 24.8 16.5 24.0 NA 13.0 19.9 22.0 13.9 19.6 18.0
1966 NA 28.7 13.5 NA NA 25.6 17.9 23.5 NA 13.6 19.5 23.0 14.6 20.6 18.9
1967 NA 29.9 13.3 NA NA 26.5 18.5 23.7 NA 13.5 20.5 23.8 15.7 21.1 18.3
1968 NA 30.2 13.9 NA NA 25.9 17.4 24.2 NA 13.4 20.3 23.5 16.4 20.9 15.9
1969 NA 31.0 14.5 NA NA 25.9 18.8 23.1 NA 13.9 21.3 24.3 16.5 21.1 16.9
1970 NA 34.8 15.3 21.0 14.7 27.0 20.3 23.0 NA 17.1 24.4 25.7 17.8 23.1 19.2
1971 NA 36.1 17.3 19.9 15.3 29.9 22.1 24.5 NA 19.3 28.1 28.8 19.9 25.3 21.3
1972 NA 37.8 20.8 19.5 15.4 35.0 24.1 28.2 NA 21.9 30.8 33.3 22.3 28.9 23.8
1973 NA 38.6 26.1 22.8 18.6 42.4 30.7 34.4 NA 28.0 33.5 41.3 27.2 33.1 24.8
1974 NA 45.2 30.9 27.6 28.3 49.5 35.6 36.9 NA 31.5 36.8 47.6 31.7 36.7 28.0
1975 NA 51.8 34.5 26.4 28.7 60.9 40.9 48.8 NA 35.1 47.9 58.7 40.7 47.4 36.1
1976 NA 56.6 35.0 33.6 29.6 60.9 41.8 47.3 NA 34.4 41.1 56.5 43.6 52.0 32.6
1977 61.2 54.7 41.1 39.5 30.8 67.6 45.7 49.3 NA 39.6 44.8 61.3 50.4 56.4 35.3
1978 65.3 53.5 54.2 47.5 31.6 77.8 54.1 58.1 NA 47.6 50.4 70.7 55.5 60.1 44.6
1979 70.8 57.8 50.9 58.2 36.9 84.2 60.3 66.5 NA 53.6 57.0 78.0 56.2 63.3 58.2
1980 78.8 65.3 51.3 58.3 42.7 88.3 58.9 76.8 NA 59.6 62.0 82.3 63.9 70.3 77.8
1981 82.4 69.5 54.6 60.0 48.4 70.6 50.4 67.1 NA 49.9 55.1 66.9 61.3 65.1 74.8
1982 87.9 77.2 48.8 59.6 48.5 57.2 46.7 61.6 NA 49.3 53.6 65.3 58.2 54.4 67.4
1983 86.0 77.5 51.8 60.3 46.4 51.0 43.4 57.4 NA 46.7 53.3 59.3 54.7 46.0 58.2
1984 85.6 71.2 51.7 60.1 48.8 46.8 40.8 53.5 NA 42.4 48.4 49.8 50.5 44.0 52.5
1985 87.3 68.7 49.9 56.5 50.4 46.9 42.3 54.2 NA 41.7 47.5 48.7 50.8 46.0 54.0
1986 91.2 70.4 74.5 55.1 54.6 63.4 60.0 72.1 NA 58.5 62.4 67.3 65.3 59.2 63.9
1987 86.9 75.1 84.2 63.5 65.1 77.2 77.9 84.6 NA 74.9 74.1 83.2 77.5 69.6 75.7
1988 86.7 83.6 92.4 81.3 74.2 77.0 79.0 82.9 NA 76.9 75.6 83.2 86.1 75.4 82.9
1989 90.5 89.8 86.3 94.8 84.1 72.3 72.6 77.6 NA 73.0 76.2 75.5 82.9 76.8 78.5
1990 93.7 95.6 83.1 94.9 88.9 89.5 91.3 94.1 NA 87.3 93.8 88.9 95.0 91.3 92.5
1991 97.7 105.1 90.9 101.1 90.6 92.3 90.8 93.1 87.5 87.8 97.6 89.8 95.7 96.3 98.2
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 100.6 91.4 118.8 101.1 96.1 95.1 93.2 95.6 98.6 99.4 81.8 96.8 88.3 67.7 85.3
1994 98.5 83.4 130.1 105.2 96.9 94.2 88.3 92.9 98.2 99.8 78.1 92.8 90.7 63.1 86.5
1995 94.8 84.1 135.1 122.3 96.9 105.2 101.1 100.6 114.1 115.5 78.0 103.0 105.0 71.2 91.6
1996 93.5 85.0 111.7 123.3 93.0 99.3 105.0 99.2 111.3 111.6 87.8 98.6 107.1 79.7 92.6
1997 92.0 83.6 98.3 95.8 87.4 83.7 93.1 83.6 94.1 93.5 81.3 83.0 101.1 68.6 99.3
1998 92.4 80.5 93.1 63.7 76.0 83.0 92.6 83.2 90.3 89.1 78.6 82.0 100.0 66.6 105.0
1999 91.4 79.8 105.7 71.7 77.2 79.3 94.1 79.6 86.6 NA 75.9 NA 102.2 64.3 102.8
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Korea, Taiwan, Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees, but are labor
costs to employers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 27 -
Table 11. Exchange rates, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999 (Value of foreign currency relative to U.S. dollar)
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 100.0 110.5 35.2 NA NA NA 87.5 151.3 NA 37.2 197.3 46.2 87.1 112.6 158.6
1955 100.0 122.5 35.2 NA NA NA 87.4 151.2 NA 37.1 197.1 46.1 87.0 112.6 158.0
1960 100.0 124.6 35.2 NA NA 64.5 87.6 107.9 NA 37.4 198.4 46.6 87.1 112.7 159.0
1961 100.0 119.4 35.1 NA NA 64.5 87.4 107.9 NA 38.9 198.4 48.5 87.0 112.7 158.6
1962 100.0 113.1 35.1 NA NA 64.6 87.5 108.0 NA 39.1 198.5 48.8 87.1 113.0 159.0
1963 100.0 112.0 35.1 NA NA 64.5 87.4 108.0 NA 39.2 198.2 48.8 86.9 112.3 158.5
1964 100.0 112.0 35.0 NA NA 64.6 87.3 108.0 NA 39.3 197.3 48.8 86.8 113.1 158.1
1965 100.0 112.1 35.1 NA NA 64.8 87.3 108.0 NA 39.1 197.2 48.8 86.9 112.9 158.3
1966 100.0 112.2 35.0 NA NA 64.5 87.4 107.7 NA 39.1 197.3 48.6 86.9 112.8 158.1
1967 100.0 112.0 35.0 NA NA 64.7 86.5 107.6 NA 39.2 197.4 48.8 86.9 112.9 155.7
1968 100.0 112.2 35.2 NA NA 64.4 80.7 106.9 NA 39.1 197.7 48.6 87.0 112.7 135.5
1969 100.0 112.2 35.4 NA NA 64.1 80.3 102.2 NA 39.8 196.4 48.5 87.0 112.7 135.3
1970 100.0 115.8 35.4 252.7 62.9 64.7 80.5 95.7 NA 42.8 196.5 48.6 86.9 112.3 135.6
1971 100.0 119.7 36.5 226.0 62.9 66.2 81.6 96.1 NA 44.9 199.3 50.4 88.3 114.1 138.4
1972 100.0 122.0 41.8 199.7 62.9 73.0 86.8 104.9 NA 49.0 211.1 54.8 94.3 122.5 141.6
1973 100.0 120.8 46.8 197.0 65.8 82.8 100.2 119.3 NA 59.0 211.8 63.3 108.2 133.8 138.8
1974 100.0 123.6 43.5 194.0 66.2 82.7 99.3 110.1 NA 60.5 189.4 65.5 112.6 131.4 132.5
1975 100.0 118.8 42.7 162.1 66.2 87.6 105.3 123.6 NA 63.6 188.9 69.7 119.2 140.6 125.8
1976 100.0 122.6 42.8 162.1 66.2 83.3 99.9 110.9 NA 62.1 148.4 66.6 113.9 133.7 102.2
1977 100.0 113.7 47.3 162.1 66.2 89.7 100.6 107.7 NA 67.3 139.6 71.7 116.8 130.4 98.8
1978 100.0 106.0 60.8 162.1 67.9 102.3 109.6 117.6 NA 77.9 145.2 81.4 118.6 129.0 108.6
1979 100.0 103.2 58.1 162.1 69.8 109.6 114.8 124.4 NA 85.2 148.3 87.7 122.7 135.9 120.2
1980 100.0 103.4 55.9 129.2 69.8 110.0 107.1 125.3 NA 85.9 143.9 88.5 125.8 137.7 131.7
1981 100.0 100.8 57.5 115.2 68.3 86.4 84.6 97.3 NA 69.0 108.2 70.4 108.2 115.0 114.6
1982 100.0 97.9 50.9 107.2 64.3 70.2 72.4 80.5 NA 64.3 91.0 65.8 96.2 92.7 99.0
1983 100.0 98.1 53.4 101.1 62.8 62.9 66.0 69.5 NA 61.2 81.1 61.6 85.1 75.9 85.8
1984 100.0 93.3 53.4 97.1 63.5 55.7 58.3 60.6 NA 54.9 70.2 54.8 76.2 70.4 75.7
1985 100.0 88.5 53.2 91.0 63.1 54.2 57.0 58.9 NA 53.1 64.5 53.0 72.3 67.7 73.5
1986 100.0 87.0 75.3 88.7 66.5 72.0 74.6 76.4 NA 72.0 82.6 71.8 84.0 81.7 83.1
1987 100.0 91.1 87.7 95.0 79.2 86.1 88.2 88.0 NA 86.9 95.0 86.8 92.2 91.8 92.8
1988 100.0 98.2 98.9 106.8 87.9 87.4 89.6 88.8 NA 88.9 94.6 88.9 95.2 94.9 100.8
1989 100.0 102.1 91.8 116.4 95.3 81.6 82.5 83.0 NA 83.0 89.8 82.9 89.9 90.2 92.7
1990 100.0 103.6 87.4 110.4 93.5 96.2 97.5 97.2 NA 96.6 102.8 96.6 99.4 98.4 101.0
1991 100.0 105.5 94.2 106.5 94.0 94.0 94.3 93.7 94.0 94.0 99.3 93.9 95.7 96.3 100.1
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 100.0 93.7 114.1 97.4 95.2 93.0 93.1 93.4 94.4 94.4 78.3 94.6 87.5 74.7 85.0
1994 100.0 88.4 124.1 97.2 95.1 96.2 95.0 95.4 96.3 96.3 76.5 96.7 88.1 75.5 86.7
1995 100.0 88.1 134.9 101.5 95.0 109.1 107.8 106.2 109.1 109.1 75.6 109.6 98.1 81.6 89.4
1996 100.0 88.6 116.5 97.5 91.6 103.8 104.1 103.5 103.8 103.8 79.9 104.3 96.2 86.8 88.4
1997 100.0 87.3 104.7 82.5 87.4 89.8 91.3 90.7 90.0 90.0 72.3 90.1 87.7 76.2 92.7
1998 100.0 81.5 96.8 56.0 75.0 88.5 90.1 89.7 88.8 88.8 70.9 88.7 82.3 73.3 93.8
1999 100.0 81.3 111.5 65.9 77.8 84.9 86.4 86.0 85.1 85.1 67.8 85.0 79.6 70.4 91.6
NA: Not Available
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 28 -
Table 12. Average annual compensation in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada*Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France*(unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden*Kingdom*
1950 8.8 5.9 NA NA NA NA 3.5 2.0 NA 4.9 .9 4.0 2.9 2.4 1.9
1955 11.8 8.1 3.7 NA NA NA 4.7 3.4 NA 7.3 1.4 5.9 4.4 3.9 2.7
1960 14.8 10.3 5.3 NA NA 6.8 6.0 5.2 NA 10.7 1.8 8.4 6.0 5.1 3.5
1961 15.2 10.6 6.1 NA NA 7.2 6.6 5.7 NA 11.8 2.0 9.2 6.4 5.5 3.7
1962 16.0 11.0 6.8 NA NA 7.8 7.2 6.3 NA 13.0 2.3 9.8 7.0 6.1 3.9
1963 16.5 11.5 7.6 NA NA 8.6 7.8 6.9 NA 13.7 2.7 10.7 7.5 6.6 4.0
1964 17.3 12.1 8.5 NA NA 9.6 8.5 7.4 NA 14.8 2.9 12.3 8.0 7.1 4.4
1965 17.9 12.8 9.4 NA NA 10.5 9.4 8.0 NA 16.2 3.0 13.8 8.7 7.8 4.7
1966 18.8 13.6 10.4 NA NA 11.5 10.4 8.5 NA 17.4 3.2 15.3 9.5 8.5 5.0
1967 19.4 14.4 11.7 NA NA 12.4 11.6 9.1 NA 17.8 3.6 16.9 10.5 9.2 5.1
1968 20.9 15.3 13.5 NA NA 13.3 12.5 10.0 NA 19.4 3.8 18.5 11.3 9.8 5.5
1969 22.2 16.5 15.8 NA NA 14.4 13.8 10.9 NA 21.3 4.2 20.7 12.2 10.5 6.0
1970 23.3 17.6 18.6 NA NA 16.0 15.3 12.1 NA 24.8 5.0 23.5 13.4 11.8 6.8
1971 24.8 18.6 21.2 NA NA 18.2 17.5 13.5 NA 27.2 5.6 26.6 15.2 13.2 7.6
1972 26.5 20.0 24.3 NA NA 21.0 19.0 14.7 NA 29.8 6.2 30.1 16.7 14.3 8.7
1973 28.5 21.6 29.4 NA NA 24.3 21.8 16.6 NA 33.4 7.4 35.2 18.7 15.8 10.0
1974 31.0 24.9 37.0 NA NA 29.2 26.9 19.5 NA 37.2 9.4 40.7 21.7 18.4 11.7
1975 34.3 28.3 42.1 NA NA 33.3 31.1 23.1 NA 40.0 11.6 45.7 25.8 22.1 15.5
1976 37.6 32.5 46.7 NA NA 39.3 34.8 26.5 NA 44.3 14.4 50.9 29.1 25.5 18.1
1977 41.0 36.1 51.6 NA NA 42.3 38.2 29.9 NA 47.7 17.0 55.3 32.1 27.7 20.6
1978 44.3 39.1 55.2 NA NA 45.2 41.6 33.4 NA 50.6 19.5 59.2 34.6 29.9 23.9
1979 48.4 42.8 59.1 NA NA 48.1 46.5 37.7 NA 54.1 23.5 62.9 35.8 31.7 28.3
1980 53.5 47.2 62.9 NA NA 52.7 51.6 43.5 NA 57.9 27.6 66.7 39.1 34.9 33.0
1981 58.8 52.9 66.8 NA NA 56.1 56.1 49.8 NA 60.9 33.4 70.2 43.6 38.8 37.8
1982 63.3 59.6 69.9 NA NA 60.0 62.0 56.7 NA 64.1 39.3 75.3 48.1 42.0 42.0
1983 66.9 64.6 71.9 NA NA 64.2 67.2 62.3 NA 67.2 45.8 78.9 53.0 47.2 45.2
1984 70.2 68.2 74.8 NA NA 69.3 70.8 67.7 NA 70.3 52.5 80.7 57.9 52.1 49.2
1985 74.1 71.5 77.6 NA NA 74.1 73.0 72.9 NA 73.1 58.5 82.9 63.1 56.8 53.7
1986 77.4 72.9 81.1 NA NA 76.2 76.3 76.1 NA 75.6 62.4 85.7 68.9 61.2 58.3
1987 80.0 75.3 83.3 NA NA 79.2 81.5 79.4 NA 78.8 67.1 88.1 76.3 66.2 65.3
1988 84.0 79.7 85.6 NA NA 81.9 84.4 82.7 NA 81.7 72.0 88.6 81.7 70.0 69.9
1989 86.7 83.0 89.9 NA NA 86.4 88.2 86.9 NA 84.6 78.7 89.0 86.0 77.1 74.5
1990 90.2 88.5 95.5 NA NA 91.7 92.1 91.1 NA 89.2 85.4 91.2 90.9 86.4 82.5
1991 94.3 94.8 98.9 NA NA 97.3 95.6 95.7 88.0 94.3 93.7 95.4 96.4 94.2 91.3
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 104.1 103.0 102.1 NA NA 103.2 103.8 102.9 104.0 102.8 105.4 103.7 101.8 99.9 104.1
1994 108.0 105.8 104.3 NA NA 107.4 106.0 105.6 110.2 108.5 108.6 108.2 105.0 106.6 107.8
1995 109.5 107.7 107.7 NA NA 109.2 109.7 107.9 116.0 113.6 113.7 110.9 108.8 114.7 109.7
1996 110.9 107.2 110.1 NA NA 111.0 112.6 109.8 120.0 117.6 120.4 113.4 112.6 123.4 110.7
1997 113.9 111.6 112.3 NA NA 114.8 117.2 113.1 122.9 120.5 125.9 115.6 117.4 129.5 114.1
1998 118.7 114.0 111.8 NA NA 116.7 118.3 115.4 125.3 122.8 123.3 117.8 125.0 133.4 118.4
1999 124.4 116.9 113.3 NA NA 118.4 123.9 117.8 127.2 NA 126.3 NA 131.6 138.2 122.6
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees, but are labor
costs to employers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 29 -
Table 13. Real hourly compensation in manufacturing, CPI basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 46.8 37.0 NA NA NA NA 28.6 19.8 NA 11.7 18.5 17.1 26.3 25.2 26.6
1955 56.5 46.5 18.2 NA NA NA 31.9 26.7 NA 15.9 21.5 21.2 29.4 30.5 29.0
1960 65.2 54.6 23.2 NA NA 24.5 38.7 30.1 NA 23.6 24.7 26.4 36.3 35.3 34.1
1961 66.5 55.5 25.6 NA NA 25.7 41.7 32.2 NA 25.8 26.6 29.8 38.7 37.9 35.2
1962 68.3 57.0 27.4 NA NA 27.2 42.5 34.0 NA 28.4 29.8 31.0 40.3 40.3 35.5
1963 69.5 58.3 28.4 NA NA 29.4 43.9 35.4 NA 29.4 32.8 33.1 42.0 43.3 36.4
1964 71.4 59.7 30.8 NA NA 31.9 45.7 37.2 NA 31.1 33.1 36.2 42.5 45.7 37.6
1965 71.8 61.7 32.2 NA NA 34.0 47.7 39.4 NA 33.1 34.0 39.0 45.0 48.0 39.2
1966 73.0 63.8 33.8 NA NA 36.1 50.8 40.6 NA 34.7 35.4 41.4 47.6 49.4 40.8
1967 74.7 64.9 36.4 NA NA 38.3 53.0 42.5 NA 36.1 38.2 44.3 50.9 52.5 41.8
1968 77.2 66.6 40.2 NA NA 39.9 54.0 46.3 NA 38.3 40.3 47.5 54.2 56.0 42.9
1969 78.5 68.9 45.3 NA NA 42.1 58.7 47.5 NA 41.0 43.0 50.2 58.0 58.8 44.2
1970 79.5 71.5 50.0 NA NA 46.1 62.9 50.9 NA 46.7 49.8 55.6 58.3 61.7 47.8
1971 80.8 73.9 54.4 NA NA 51.1 68.3 54.1 NA 49.8 54.7 59.1 62.8 64.0 49.7
1972 82.3 75.7 59.7 NA NA 57.3 71.0 56.2 NA 52.3 58.0 62.9 65.3 67.4 53.5
1973 83.4 76.7 65.4 NA NA 63.6 78.8 60.0 NA 55.4 61.9 69.4 68.5 69.7 55.8
1974 83.4 80.2 69.5 NA NA 69.4 82.8 62.7 NA 58.9 67.7 75.6 73.4 74.7 57.8
1975 85.6 83.3 72.5 NA NA 74.4 90.0 68.4 NA 61.3 72.9 78.5 78.6 83.5 62.0
1976 87.8 88.8 71.4 NA NA 78.9 92.1 71.5 NA 63.1 77.7 80.5 83.2 88.3 61.8
1977 89.6 91.2 72.8 NA NA 79.5 91.8 74.2 NA 66.7 77.1 82.3 85.6 86.0 60.1
1978 90.6 89.9 74.5 NA NA 81.6 91.9 76.5 NA 69.9 78.9 85.6 87.4 88.8 64.4
1979 90.9 90.6 76.4 NA NA 83.1 93.7 78.4 NA 72.2 82.6 88.2 87.6 89.8 67.4
1980 91.7 91.7 75.4 NA NA 86.7 92.1 79.5 NA 74.6 80.0 87.4 86.0 87.5 69.0
1981 92.1 92.0 77.0 NA NA 87.8 90.7 81.2 NA 74.6 81.5 85.7 84.1 86.2 72.0
1982 95.4 94.1 78.6 NA NA 84.5 89.7 86.2 NA 75.0 82.6 85.8 84.1 85.0 72.4
1983 94.1 95.2 79.2 NA NA 86.1 89.7 86.9 NA 76.0 83.7 87.4 85.1 84.3 74.4
1984 93.6 96.4 79.8 NA NA 88.0 89.2 87.7 NA 77.7 86.8 87.8 87.7 85.1 76.3
1985 95.5 96.6 81.4 NA NA 88.5 90.9 89.6 NA 80.7 89.8 90.4 90.8 87.2 77.8
1986 98.1 94.1 85.0 NA NA 89.7 89.6 90.9 NA 84.1 88.2 93.9 92.4 90.3 81.5
1987 97.6 92.3 86.9 NA NA 91.0 94.1 91.5 NA 87.7 89.0 97.4 96.4 92.3 88.1
1988 97.9 92.1 87.8 NA NA 91.5 93.2 92.6 NA 90.3 87.9 96.6 96.0 94.0 87.7
1989 96.8 93.4 91.1 NA NA 94.1 94.1 94.1 NA 92.3 90.3 96.3 96.1 98.1 87.7
1990 96.6 94.7 95.3 NA NA 95.4 96.9 96.0 NA 96.6 94.6 96.5 97.7 97.4 88.9
1991 98.1 96.3 97.6 NA NA 99.7 98.0 98.8 96.8 99.1 98.7 98.1 99.8 97.2 93.9
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 100.2 100.2 103.2 NA NA 102.0 103.3 100.9 101.6 102.1 103.2 101.1 99.2 95.1 102.7
1994 100.8 101.6 104.7 NA NA 100.9 NA 101.7 104.6 104.8 99.6 102.7 100.7 95.6 102.3
1995 100.4 101.7 107.4 NA NA 102.3 NA 102.7 108.5 108.7 98.9 103.1 102.7 97.3 99.7
1996 99.0 99.2 108.8 NA NA 101.4 NA 102.4 113.1 112.8 101.5 103.6 105.6 103.4 98.1
1997 98.8 100.6 109.7 NA NA 103.2 NA 103.7 113.5 113.3 103.9 103.7 107.5 106.5 98.0
1998 102.6 102.5 110.9 NA NA 103.6 NA 104.8 113.3 113.3 100.2 104.0 111.8 107.9 99.5
1999 105.5 102.4 113.0 NA NA 102.9 NA 108.2 114.2 NA 101.5 NA 115.5 106.8 102.6
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 30 -
Table 14. Real average annual compensation in manufacturing, CPI basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France (unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 47.4 40.3 NA NA NA NA 40.2 24.4 NA 17.2 20.4 22.3 34.4 33.3 30.9
1955 57.4 48.7 21.6 NA NA NA 44.0 32.5 NA 23.3 24.3 27.7 38.6 39.9 34.2
1960 64.9 56.8 28.6 NA NA 30.8 50.8 36.6 NA 31.0 28.2 34.8 45.8 43.8 39.3
1961 66.2 57.5 31.1 NA NA 32.2 53.1 39.3 NA 33.4 30.0 37.6 48.0 46.4 40.1
1962 68.8 59.4 32.6 NA NA 34.2 54.5 41.4 NA 35.8 32.6 39.0 49.9 48.9 39.9
1963 70.1 61.0 33.6 NA NA 37.0 55.4 43.1 NA 36.5 36.1 41.4 51.7 51.8 40.9
1964 72.6 62.7 36.2 NA NA 40.0 58.3 45.0 NA 38.7 36.4 44.9 52.6 54.0 42.6
1965 73.7 64.9 37.2 NA NA 41.9 60.7 47.2 NA 41.0 36.1 48.2 54.5 56.1 43.9
1966 75.2 66.6 39.2 NA NA 44.1 63.4 48.8 NA 42.4 38.1 50.8 57.8 57.6 44.9
1967 75.6 67.8 42.3 NA NA 46.2 65.4 50.7 NA 42.9 41.7 54.2 61.2 60.2 45.6
1968 77.9 69.4 46.6 NA NA 48.2 65.1 53.7 NA 46.1 43.9 57.1 63.6 62.8 47.2
1969 78.7 71.5 51.8 NA NA 50.3 69.9 56.3 NA 49.5 46.6 59.5 66.5 64.6 48.6
1970 78.0 73.7 56.6 NA NA 53.7 72.5 59.6 NA 56.0 53.0 64.7 66.3 67.6 51.7
1971 79.5 76.0 60.7 NA NA 58.5 78.5 62.9 NA 58.4 56.6 68.1 70.8 69.8 52.5
1972 82.3 77.9 66.1 NA NA 64.2 79.8 64.7 NA 60.7 59.6 71.5 72.5 71.6 56.0
1973 83.3 78.3 71.9 NA NA 69.5 83.9 67.9 NA 63.8 64.3 77.3 75.6 72.6 59.1
1974 81.7 81.4 73.2 NA NA 73.9 89.8 70.0 NA 66.5 67.9 81.7 80.0 76.8 59.3
1975 82.7 83.4 74.6 NA NA 74.9 94.6 74.1 NA 67.4 71.8 83.2 85.3 84.1 63.4
1976 85.8 89.1 75.7 NA NA 80.9 97.2 77.7 NA 71.5 76.5 85.2 87.9 87.8 63.7
1977 87.9 91.4 77.3 NA NA 81.2 96.0 79.9 NA 74.3 75.6 86.7 89.0 84.9 62.4
1978 88.9 90.8 79.4 NA NA 83.2 95.0 81.8 NA 76.9 77.2 89.2 88.8 85.3 66.6
1979 88.6 91.1 82.0 NA NA 84.7 96.8 83.6 NA 79.2 80.2 90.9 87.5 84.9 69.4
1980 88.3 91.2 80.9 NA NA 87.0 95.7 84.8 NA 80.7 77.9 90.6 86.3 81.9 68.7
1981 88.8 90.8 82.0 NA NA 86.1 93.2 85.6 NA 79.7 79.3 89.3 84.6 81.2 70.6
1982 90.2 92.0 83.5 NA NA 84.7 93.5 87.1 NA 79.7 80.2 90.4 83.8 80.6 71.8
1983 91.5 94.3 84.3 NA NA 84.1 94.7 87.4 NA 80.9 81.3 92.2 85.3 81.1 73.9
1984 92.3 95.4 85.7 NA NA 85.4 93.9 88.4 NA 82.7 84.2 91.3 87.7 83.4 76.4
1985 94.2 96.2 87.2 NA NA 87.1 92.5 89.7 NA 84.3 86.4 91.6 90.4 84.5 78.7
1986 96.7 94.2 90.5 NA NA 88.4 93.3 91.2 NA 87.3 87.0 94.6 92.1 87.1 82.6
1987 96.7 93.2 92.8 NA NA 90.5 95.8 92.3 NA 90.9 89.4 97.7 93.7 90.3 88.8
1988 98.0 94.9 94.8 NA NA 92.5 94.9 93.7 NA 93.2 91.3 97.6 94.1 91.6 90.6
1989 96.9 94.1 97.4 NA NA 94.7 94.6 95.1 NA 93.9 93.7 96.8 94.7 95.3 89.6
1990 96.0 94.9 100.3 NA NA 97.0 96.3 96.5 NA 96.4 95.8 96.9 96.2 95.8 90.6
1991 96.8 96.1 100.6 NA NA 99.7 97.6 98.3 92.5 98.2 98.8 98.3 98.7 95.9 94.7
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 NA NA 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 101.5 101.2 100.8 NA NA 100.5 102.5 100.8 99.6 99.1 101.1 101.1 99.5 97.7 102.5
1994 103.0 103.6 102.3 NA NA 102.1 102.6 101.8 102.7 101.7 100.3 102.7 101.2 102.1 103.6
1995 101.9 103.3 105.7 NA NA 102.3 104.0 102.2 106.3 104.9 99.7 103.5 102.4 104.9 101.9
1996 100.5 101.3 107.9 NA NA 101.9 104.6 102.0 108.4 107.2 101.5 103.8 104.6 111.8 100.4
1997 100.9 103.8 108.2 NA NA 103.7 106.5 103.8 109.0 107.9 104.4 103.5 106.4 115.2 100.3
1998 103.8 105.0 107.0 NA NA 104.4 105.6 105.1 110.1 109.0 100.4 103.6 110.8 116.8 100.7
1999 106.6 105.9 108.8 NA NA 104.8 107.9 106.8 111.1 NA 101.3 NA 114.0 115.9 102.6
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.
- 31 -
Table 15. Labor compensation in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-1999
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Germany Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada*Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France*(unified) Germany Italy lands Norway Sweden*Kingdom*
1950 7.4 4.6 NA NA NA NA 2.9 2.2 NA 3.7 .7 4.6 3.4 2.9 3.1
1955 11.0 6.9 1.8 NA NA NA 4.1 3.9 NA 7.0 1.1 7.2 5.5 4.9 4.9
1960 13.7 8.8 3.3 NA NA 9.2 6.3 6.1 NA 11.6 1.7 10.9 7.3 6.9 6.7
1961 13.7 8.9 4.1 NA NA 10.1 7.0 6.8 NA 13.1 2.0 12.2 8.0 7.7 7.1
1962 14.8 9.6 4.8 NA NA 11.1 7.9 7.5 NA 14.5 2.3 13.2 8.9 8.5 7.3
1963 15.4 10.2 5.5 NA NA 12.4 8.5 8.4 NA 15.2 2.8 14.5 9.5 9.3 7.5
1964 16.4 11.2 6.4 NA NA 14.3 9.5 9.2 NA 16.4 3.0 16.9 10.3 10.2 8.2
1965 17.8 12.4 7.1 NA NA 15.6 10.7 9.8 NA 18.3 3.1 19.0 11.4 11.2 9.0
1966 19.8 13.9 8.1 NA NA 17.1 11.8 10.5 NA 19.4 3.3 21.0 12.6 12.1 9.6
1967 20.7 14.8 9.7 NA NA 17.9 12.5 11.1 NA 18.9 3.8 22.5 14.0 12.8 9.5
1968 22.6 15.9 11.6 NA NA 18.8 13.5 12.0 NA 20.7 4.1 24.4 14.9 13.4 10.2
1969 24.6 17.4 14.0 NA NA 21.1 15.4 13.5 NA 23.6 4.6 27.7 16.2 14.6 11.3
1970 24.8 18.2 16.8 .6 3.0 24.0 17.1 15.4 NA 28.2 5.7 31.5 18.2 16.6 12.8
1971 25.3 19.4 19.2 .7 3.8 27.2 18.8 17.4 NA 30.7 6.5 35.2 20.8 18.0 13.7
1972 27.8 21.5 22.0 .9 4.6 31.0 20.9 19.2 NA 33.0 7.1 38.4 22.9 19.3 15.3
1973 31.5 24.3 27.8 1.4 6.3 36.1 24.3 22.1 NA 37.3 8.8 44.2 25.7 21.7 17.8
1974 34.2 28.4 34.6 2.0 9.0 43.9 28.9 26.2 NA 40.5 11.4 51.0 30.3 25.7 20.8
1975 34.5 31.3 37.2 2.6 9.5 47.2 30.6 30.3 NA 40.9 14.1 55.3 35.9 31.2 26.3
1976 39.2 36.0 41.1 4.1 12.1 53.4 34.5 34.6 NA 44.2 17.7 59.1 40.2 36.0 29.7
1977 44.4 39.2 44.9 5.6 14.2 55.2 37.7 38.8 NA 47.8 21.2 62.5 44.5 37.7 34.0
1978 50.0 43.7 47.4 8.1 17.3 56.5 40.8 42.9 NA 50.6 24.0 65.5 47.1 39.6 39.3
1979 55.9 49.5 50.7 10.8 21.2 58.6 45.9 47.7 NA 54.8 29.4 68.8 48.0 42.1 46.2
1980 59.7 54.3 54.9 13.5 26.9 62.8 50.2 54.4 NA 59.2 34.6 72.0 52.6 46.3 51.5
1981 65.3 60.8 59.0 17.0 33.6 63.1 52.6 60.2 NA 61.0 40.1 73.8 57.6 49.8 53.4
1982 65.6 62.1 61.4 19.2 36.6 65.5 58.0 67.5 NA 62.5 45.7 76.1 61.3 51.8 55.7
1983 68.1 65.6 64.2 23.6 40.0 68.6 63.1 72.7 NA 63.2 51.1 76.1 64.1 56.9 56.5
1984 75.0 71.2 68.2 28.5 47.8 73.2 70.2 76.8 NA 65.9 55.8 76.1 69.4 63.2 60.1
1985 78.5 76.3 71.3 30.3 51.4 77.1 76.8 80.4 NA 69.4 61.2 79.0 76.2 70.0 65.4
1986 80.8 80.5 74.1 35.9 61.4 78.5 83.2 82.4 NA 72.9 64.6 82.7 84.0 75.3 69.3
1987 83.8 85.6 75.3 45.8 69.2 79.7 87.7 83.8 NA 76.0 69.2 85.8 93.0 80.8 77.0
1988 89.5 93.8 79.1 58.4 74.0 82.3 88.9 86.1 NA 78.6 75.4 86.8 95.2 87.2 83.4
1989 92.8 99.1 84.8 64.7 80.2 87.9 91.8 91.0 NA 82.6 83.3 88.3 93.4 94.5 89.2
1990 95.1 100.2 91.5 74.5 85.6 94.0 96.1 96.0 NA 89.5 90.9 92.2 95.7 102.2 96.5
1991 96.0 98.7 97.9 90.2 92.6 98.8 98.0 99.1 95.2 96.0 97.5 96.1 98.3 104.1 98.2
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 104.2 102.1 100.0 109.4 103.4 99.2 99.1 98.0 96.6 96.6 100.6 100.5 103.6 92.3 101.7
1994 109.4 106.8 100.0 126.4 110.6 99.3 101.6 97.6 97.1 96.8 104.3 100.0 109.9 97.9 105.9
1995 112.2 112.8 100.7 156.5 117.2 100.4 107.6 99.4 99.8 99.2 110.6 101.3 116.6 112.0 110.4
1996 113.4 114.9 102.3 175.5 122.2 100.5 110.7 100.3 100.3 99.4 116.1 102.5 122.6 120.2 113.4
1997 117.5 122.8 104.2 171.6 128.3 102.5 114.8 101.1 100.7 99.5 121.7 105.1 133.3 124.8 117.4
1998 123.4 131.5 99.7 155.5 134.5 104.8 118.6 103.4 102.7 101.2 122.2 107.9 142.9 131.5 122.9
1999 127.3 138.7 98.6 181.2 139.9 106.3 121.5 105.8 104.0 NA 124.7 NA 146.5 137.6 123.2
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Korea, Taiwan, Belgium, Denmark, and Italy
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees, but are labor
costs to employers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2000.