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Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov USDL 01-280
Technical information: (202) 691-5654 For Release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, August 31, 2001
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY
AND UNIT LABOR COST TRENDS, 2000
In 2000, the labor 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. The labor
productivity increase in the United States was 7.1 percent, followed by
6.0 and 5.8 percent in Germany and France, respectively. The
productivity growth rates in Canada and Norway were the lowest among
the countries compared. (See chart 1.)
These preliminary estimates for 2000, as well as revisions to the
estimates through 1999, are based on data available in June 2001. The
output series for U.S. manufacturing 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, 2000
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Unit labor costs - the cost of labor input required to produce
one unit of output - are computed as 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 effect on unit labor costs.
Unit labor costs in manufacturing, expressed in national currency
units, declined in 11 of the 13 countries for which comparable data on
unit labor costs were available in 2000. The United States had a
decline of 0.5 percent. The largest declines occurred in Japan (5.1
percent) and Denmark (2.9 percent). Norway and Canada were the only
two countries where unit labor costs increased. (See table A and chart
2.)
PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT:
Chart 2. Percent change in manufacturing unit labor costs (national
currency basis), 2000
Changes in exchange rates must be taken into account in order to
assess international competitiveness in manufacturing. The weakening
of the euro against the dollar in 2000 deepened the unit labor cost
declines in the European countries, when measured in U.S. dollars. The
stronger currencies in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, however, resulted in
increased U.S. dollar-based unit labor costs in these three countries.
(See table A and chart 3.)
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PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT:
Chart 3. Percent change in manufacturing unit labor costs (U.S. dollar
basis), 2000
Table A summarizes changes in manufacturing productivity, unit
labor costs, and related variables between 1999 and 2000. 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 2000 data are available for the Netherlands.
Labor productivity rose in all 10 countries compared. In the United
States, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, output per hour
rose because output increased while hours decreased. In Canada, Japan,
Belgium, and Sweden, output per hour rose because output increased more
than hours. Except for Norway, every country experienced an increase
in output. Norway�s growth in productivity was the result of a smaller
decline in output than in hours worked.
Unit labor costs measured in national currencies are affected by
the degree and direction of change in both hourly compensation and
productivity. Of the 10 countries for which hours worked series are
available, all, except Japan, showed an increase in both hourly
compensation and labor productivity in 2000. In Canada and Norway,
hourly compensation grew more than productivity, resulting in increases
in unit labor costs in national currency units. In the remaining eight
countries, productivity growth was greater than the rise in hourly
compensation, causing unit labor costs to decline.
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Table A. Manufacturing productivity and unit labor costs in 14 countries or areas
Percent change, 1999-2000
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 7.1 6.1 - 0.9 - 0.6 - 0.3 5.5 6.5 - 0.5 - 0.5 ---
Canada 1.2 5.7 4.4 4.4 0.0 8.0 3.5 2.2 2.2 0.0
Japan 5.4 5.8 0.4 - 1.8 2.2 0.4 0.0 - 5.1 0.1 5.5
Korea (2) NA 15.4 NA NA NA 12.3 NA - 2.7 2.4 5.2
Taiwan (2) NA 7.5 NA NA NA 5.0 NA - 2.3 1.0 3.4
Belgium 3.0 3.6 0.6 1.8 - 1.2 3.2 2.6 - 0.4 -13.7 -13.3
Denmark NA 6.3 NA - 0.8 NA 3.3 NA - 2.9 -16.2 -13.7
France 5.8 3.3 - 2.3 1.2 - 3.4 2.8 5.2 - 0.5 -13.8 -13.3
Germany 6.0 5.7 - 0.3 0.7 - 1.0 3.2 3.5 - 2.3 -15.4 -13.3
Italy 3.5 3.4 - 0.1 0.1 - 0.2 2.8 2.9 - 0.5 -13.8 -13.3
Netherlands NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA -13.3
Norway 1.1 - 2.7 - 3.8 - 2.7 - 1.1 1.1 5.0 3.9 - 8.0 -11.4
Sweden 4.8 6.3 1.5 1.3 0.2 4.1 2.6 - 2.1 -11.7 - 9.8
United Kingdom 5.0 1.6 - 3.3 - 3.7 0.4 0.3 3.7 - 1.3 - 7.5 - 6.3
(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
technology, capital investment, capacity utilization, energy use, and
managerial skills, as well as the skills and efforts of the work force.
Table B (pages 9-13) shows average annual percent changes for
selected periods, beginning in 1979. Annual indexes of the data are in
tables 1-15 (pages 19-33).
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BOX: Notes about the measures
The measures in this news release are based on data available to BLS as
of June 2001. Revisions for 1999 and earlier years were made to the
measures for several countries to incorporate data not available at the
time of the April 2001 news release.
U.S. manufacturing output measure
The output measure for manufacturing in 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 United States real output data through 1999 used in this report
were released by the BEA in December 2000. The estimates are described
in the Survey of Current Business, Vol. 80, No. 11, December 2000. The
BLS estimate of real U.S. output for 2000 was derived by extrapolating
the 1999 number forward, using the annual growth rate of the Federal
Reserve Board�s 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.
Germany
Time series data for the whole of Germany, termed Germany (unified) in
previous BLS releases, are published by the German Federal Statistical
Office, beginning with 1991. For years prior to 1991, only data for
the former West Germany are available. Comparative indexes for the
former West Germany also are included in this report for historical
comparison purposes, although the data for West Germany end with 1998
and have not been updated or revised by BLS since they were published
in the news release USDL 99-235, on Aug. 27, 1999.
Italy
Data for this release have been revised from 1980, to correspond to the
General industrial classification of economic activities within the
European communities (NACE), by including industry 23 (manufacture of
coke, refined petroleum products, and nuclear fuel). Also, value added
output was revalued at basic prices.
New measures of National Accounts
Member states of the European Union are in the process of 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 due to these conversions to new systems are being
incorporated into the BLS estimates.
(continued on next page)
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Notes about the measures (continued)
European exchange rates
On Jan. 1, 1999, 11 European countries joined the European Monetary
Union (EMU). Greece joined on Jan. 1, 2001. 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, 2000 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 2000, 1 euro was equal to 0.9232 U.S. dollars. The currency
exchange rates cited in this publication are annual averages of daily
buying rates in New York City.
END OF BOX (Notes about the measures)
Manufacturing productivity, output, and labor input
The 7.1 percent increase in U.S. output per hour in manufacturing
in 2000 was the largest increase among all countries compared and 3
percentage points above the nation's average annual increase between
1990 and 2000. In 2000, U.S. output grew 6.1 percent and hours worked
fell 0.9 percent, the third year in a row that U.S. manufacturing hours
declined. (See table B.)
Of the 10 countries for which output per hour data are available,
9 experienced higher productivity growth in 2000 than in 1999. Only
Canada experienced lower productivity growth. (See table B.)
For the 1990-2000 period, productivity grew in all nine countries
for which these data are available. The rate of increase ranged from
4.7 percent per year for Sweden to 0.8 percent per year for Norway.
The United States and France were the only countries other than Sweden
that experienced productivity growth above 4 percent per year. (See
table B.)
In 2000, manufacturing output increased in all of the countries,
except Norway. Korean output grew by 15.4 percent in 2000. Increases
in other countries in 2000 ranged from 7.5 percent (Taiwan) to 1.6
percent (the United Kingdom). Manufacturing output in Norway has
declined for 2 consecutive years. (See table B.)
During 1990-2000, manufacturing output increased in all the
countries compared; the lowest gain was 0.6 percent per year in the
United Kingdom, and the highest was 8.2 percent per year in Korea. In
2000, all countries except Norway had higher output growth than the
1990-2000 average per year. (See table B.)
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In 2000, total hours worked in manufacturing declined in 6 of the
10 countries for which comparable data were available and rose in 4.
The largest declines were in Norway (3.8 percent) and the United
Kingdom (3.3 percent). U.S. hours fell 0.9 percent, the third
consecutive year that U.S. manufacturing hours declined. Hours worked
in Canada increased 4.4 percent in 2000. Hours also rose in Japan,
Belgium, and Sweden. (See table B.)
Total hours worked in manufacturing declined between 1990 and
2000 in all countries for which hours data are available, except Canada
and Norway. Canadian hours worked rose at an average rate of 1.2
percent per year during the 1990-2000 period, while Norwegian hours
worked rose 0.3 percent per year. For the other countries, the average
1990-2000 decline in hours ranged from 2.4 percent per year in Japan to
0.1 percent per year in the U.S. (See table B.)
Manufacturing hourly compensation and unit labor costs
Hourly compensation in manufacturing increased in 2000 in all the
countries for which hours worked data were available, except Japan.
The largest increases occurred in the United States (6.5 percent),
France (5.2 percent), and Norway (5.0 percent). Hourly compensation in
Japan was unchanged in 2000. (See table B.)
A percent change in unit labor costs can be expressed
approximately as a percent change in hourly compensation minus a
percent change in labor productivity. Therefore, an increase in unit
labor costs indicates that labor compensation is rising faster than
productivity, while the reverse 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 except the Netherlands, average
annual increases in hourly compensation in national currency surpassed
average annual increases in labor productivity. (See table B.)
In 2000, unit labor costs, expressed in national currency units,
declined in 11 of the countries compared and increased in 2. The
largest declines occurred in Japan (5.1 percent), Denmark (2.9
percent), and Korea (2.7 percent). Only Canada (2.2 percent) and
Norway (3.9 percent) experienced a rise in unit labor costs in 2000.
In the U.S., unit labor costs decreased 0.5 percent in 2000, as
productivity increased 7.1 percent and hourly compensation increased
6.5 percent.
From 1990 to 2000, U.S. unit labor costs decreased 0.4 percent
per year. In addition to the U.S., four other countries-Japan,
Belgium, France, and Sweden-experienced declines in unit labor costs
over this time period, measured in their own currencies. (See tables B
and 9.)
In 2000, the euro lost value against the U.S. dollar, from an
average of $1.0653 per euro in 1999 to $0.9232 per euro in 2000, a drop
of 13.3 percent. Consequently, the currencies of countries in the euro
zone (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands) declined at
the same rate. The currencies of all the other European countries
(those not in the euro zone) also declined, by 6.3 to 13.7 percent.
However, the currencies of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan appreciated in
value against the U.S. dollar during 2000. The Japanese yen rose by
5.5 percent, the Korean won by 5.2 percent, and the Taiwanese dollar by
3.4 percent. The Canadian to U.S. dollar exchange rate was stable
between 1999 and 2000. (See tables B and 11.)
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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 2000 caused unit labor costs in these countries to rise when
expressed in U.S. dollars, although they decreased in terms of their
own currencies. The increases were 2.4 percent in Korea, 1.0 percent
in Taiwan, and 0.1 percent in Japan. The weakening of European
currencies against the dollar deepened the declines in their unit labor
costs when valued in U.S. dollars, from 7.5 percent in the United
Kingdom to 16.2 percent in Denmark. Unit labor costs declined also in
Norway (8 percent), when expressed in dollars, while increasing in
terms of its national currency. (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, 1979-2000
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2000 1979-85 1985-90 1990-2000 1997 1998 1999 2000
or area
Output per hour
United States 3.5 3.5 2.4 4.1 3.6 4.5 6.6 7.1
Canada 2.1 3.4 0.5 2.1 2.8 -0.1 1.6 1.2
Japan 3.7 3.5 4.3 3.5 4.2 0.2 3.8 5.4
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium 3.7 6.0 2.2 3.2 8.3 1.6 0.1 3.0
Denmark NA 2.1 0.5 NA NA NA NA NA
France 3.6 3.0 3.4 4.1 7.4 4.6 2.6 5.8
Germany NA NA NA NA 4.9 0.0 1.2 6.0
Italy 2.7 4.0 1.9 2.3 2.1 -0.4 0.7 3.5
Netherlands NA 4.4 2.2 NA 1.8 2.2 2.2 NA
Norway 1.4 2.4 1.4 0.8 0.9 0.6 -0.5 1.1
Sweden 3.6 3.1 1.9 4.7 6.3 5.4 2.9 4.8
United Kingdom 3.6 4.4 4.6 2.7 1.4 1.3 4.2 5.0
Output
United States 3.1 2.2 2.5 3.9 5.4 4.3 5.7 6.1
Canada 2.6 1.9 1.8 3.3 6.1 4.1 6.3 5.7
Japan 2.9 4.7 4.8 1.0 3.4 -5.9 0.8 5.8
Korea 9.2 8.3 12.2 8.2 6.6 -7.4 21.0 15.4
Taiwan 6.6 8.2 7.0 5.4 6.7 3.3 6.7 7.5
Belgium 2.3 2.6 2.5 1.9 6.7 2.2 1.2 3.6
Denmark 1.8 2.9 -0.2 2.2 8.0 2.0 -0.8 6.3
France 1.5 -0.4 2.6 2.0 4.9 4.8 2.0 3.3
Germany NA NA NA NA 3.4 1.5 0.4 5.7
Italy 1.7 0.9 3.2 1.4 3.2 1.5 -0.2 3.4
Netherlands 2.3 1.8 3.2 2.1 2.6 3.3 3.1 NA
Norway 0.3 0.6 -1.6 1.0 5.1 1.8 -3.2 -2.7
Sweden 2.9 2.2 1.4 4.0 5.3 6.9 4.1 6.3
United Kingdom 0.8 -1.2 3.4 0.6 1.3 0.5 0.0 1.6
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, 1979-2000
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2000 1979-85 1985-90 1990-2000 1997 1998 1999 2000
or area
Total hours
United States -0.4 -1.2 0.0 -0.1 1.8 -0.2 -0.8 -0.9
Canada 0.5 -1.5 1.3 1.2 3.1 4.2 4.6 4.4
Japan -0.7 1.1 0.5 -2.4 -0.8 -6.1 -2.9 0.4
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium -1.4 -3.2 0.4 -1.3 -1.5 0.6 1.1 0.6
Denmark NA 0.8 -0.6 NA NA NA NA NA
France -2.1 -3.3 -0.8 -2.0 -2.3 0.2 -0.6 -2.3
Germany NA NA NA NA -1.5 1.4 -0.8 -0.3
Italy -1.0 -2.9 1.3 -0.9 1.0 2.0 -0.8 -0.1
Netherlands NA -2.5 1.0 NA 0.8 1.1 0.8 NA
Norway -1.1 -1.8 -2.9 0.3 4.1 1.2 -2.7 -3.8
Sweden -0.7 -0.8 -0.5 -0.7 -1.0 1.4 1.2 1.5
United Kingdom -2.8 -5.3 -1.2 -2.0 -0.1 -0.8 -4.0 -3.3
Employment
United States -0.6 -1.4 -0.1 -0.4 1.0 0.7 -1.5 -0.6
Canada 0.3 -1.3 1.2 0.9 3.2 3.8 3.7 4.4
Japan -0.3 1.2 0.8 -1.8 -0.2 -4.1 -2.7 -1.8
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium -1.4 -2.6 -0.3 -1.3 -1.5 0.4 -1.0 1.8
Denmark -0.2 1.0 -0.2 -0.9 -0.8 0.8 -2.1 -0.8
France -1.6 -2.3 -0.9 -1.5 -2.1 0.4 -0.1 1.2
Germany NA NA NA NA -1.5 0.4 -0.4 0.7
Italy -1.1 -2.8 0.3 -0.7 0.6 2.2 -0.4 0.1
Netherlands NA -2.2 1.2 NA 1.2 1.3 0.8 NA
Norway -1.0 -1.8 -2.7 0.3 4.3 1.0 -2.7 -2.7
Sweden -1.3 -1.2 -0.8 -1.6 -1.1 1.2 1.0 1.3
United Kingdom -2.5 -4.6 -0.9 -2.1 0.4 -0.1 -3.6 -3.7
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, 1979-2000
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2000 1979-85 1985-90 1990-2000 1997 1998 1999 2000
or area
Average hours
United States 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.7 -1.0 0.7 -0.3
Canada 0.1 -0.2 0.1 0.3 -0.1 0.3 0.9 0.0
Japan -0.4 0.0 -0.3 -0.7 -0.6 -2.1 -0.2 2.2
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 0.1 0.2 2.1 -1.2
Denmark NA -0.3 -0.5 NA NA NA NA NA
France -0.5 -1.0 0.1 -0.6 -0.3 -0.2 -0.5 -3.4
Germany NA NA NA NA 0.0 1.0 -0.4 -1.0
Italy 0.1 -0.1 1.0 -0.2 0.4 -0.2 -0.4 -0.2
Netherlands NA -0.3 -0.2 NA -0.4 -0.2 0.0 NA
Norway -0.1 0.0 -0.2 0.0 -0.2 0.1 0.0 -1.1
Sweden 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.9 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2
United Kingdom -0.3 -0.8 -0.3 0.1 -0.6 -0.6 -0.4 0.4
Total labor compensation in manufacturing 2/: National currency basis
United States 4.3 5.8 3.9 3.5 3.7 5.1 3.1 5.5
Canada 5.4 7.5 5.6 4.1 5.3 6.4 6.0 8.0
Japan 2.9 5.9 5.1 0.0 2.6 -3.7 -3.0 0.4
Korea 14.5 18.7 19.7 9.5 -2.2 -9.4 5.7 12.3
Taiwan 9.7 15.9 10.7 5.5 5.0 4.8 4.0 5.0
Belgium 3.0 4.7 4.0 1.6 1.9 2.1 1.5 3.2
Denmark 4.9 9.0 4.6 2.8 3.7 3.8 2.5 3.3
France 4.0 9.1 3.6 1.2 0.1 2.5 2.0 2.8
Germany NA NA NA NA 0.5 2.3 0.9 3.2
Italy 7.3 13.1 8.2 3.6 4.9 0.8 2.5 2.8
Netherlands NA 2.3 3.1 NA 3.4 4.2 4.0 NA
Norway 5.5 8.0 4.7 4.5 8.7 7.5 3.0 1.1
Sweden 6.0 8.9 7.9 3.3 3.4 5.7 3.7 4.1
United Kingdom 4.8 5.9 8.0 2.6 3.5 4.4 0.5 0.3
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, 1979-2000
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2000 1979-85 1985-90 1990-2000 1997 1998 1999 2000
or area
Hourly compensation 2/: National currency basis
United States 4.7 7.2 3.9 3.7 1.9 5.4 4.0 6.5
Canada 4.9 9.1 4.2 2.9 2.1 2.1 1.3 3.5
Japan 3.6 4.7 4.6 2.5 3.4 2.5 -0.2 0.0
Korea NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Taiwan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Belgium 4.5 8.1 3.7 2.9 3.4 1.4 0.4 2.6
Denmark NA 8.1 5.3 NA NA NA NA NA
France 6.2 12.8 4.5 3.3 2.5 2.3 2.6 5.2
Germany NA NA NA NA 2.0 0.9 1.7 3.5
Italy 8.4 16.5 6.8 4.5 3.8 -1.2 3.3 2.9
Netherlands NA 5.0 2.1 NA 2.6 3.1 3.1 NA
Norway 6.7 10.0 7.8 4.3 4.4 6.3 5.8 5.0
Sweden 6.7 9.8 8.4 4.1 4.4 4.2 2.5 2.6
United Kingdom 7.8 11.8 9.3 4.7 3.7 5.3 4.7 3.7
Unit labor costs: National currency basis
United States 1.1 3.6 1.4 -0.4 -1.7 0.8 -2.5 -0.5
Canada 2.8 5.5 3.7 0.8 -0.7 2.2 -0.2 2.2
Japan -0.1 1.1 0.3 -1.0 -0.8 2.3 -3.8 -5.1
Korea 4.8 9.6 6.7 1.2 -8.3 -2.1 -12.7 -2.7
Taiwan 2.9 7.2 3.5 0.2 -1.6 1.4 -2.5 -2.3
Belgium 0.8 2.0 1.5 -0.3 -4.5 -0.2 0.3 -0.4
Denmark 3.1 5.9 4.8 0.6 -3.9 1.8 3.3 -2.9
France 2.5 9.5 1.0 -0.9 -4.5 -2.2 0.0 -0.5
Germany NA NA NA NA -2.8 0.9 0.5 -2.3
Italy 5.5 12.0 4.8 2.2 1.7 -0.7 2.6 -0.5
Netherlands NA 0.5 -0.1 NA 0.9 0.9 0.8 NA
Norway 5.3 7.4 6.4 3.5 3.5 5.6 6.4 3.9
Sweden 3.0 6.5 6.4 -0.7 -1.8 -1.2 -0.4 -2.1
United Kingdom 4.0 7.1 4.5 1.9 2.2 3.9 0.5 -1.3
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, 1979-2000
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2000 1979-85 1985-90 1990-2000 1997 1998 1999 2000
or area
Unit labor costs: U.S. dollar basis
United States 1.1 3.6 1.4 -0.4 -1.7 0.8 -2.5 -0.5
Canada 1.6 2.8 7.0 -1.6 -2.2 -4.6 -0.4 2.2
Japan 3.3 -0.3 10.8 2.0 -10.8 -5.4 10.8 0.1
Korea 0.7 -0.5 10.9 -3.4 -22.3 -33.5 2.8 2.4
Taiwan 3.6 5.4 12.0 -1.3 -6.0 -13.0 1.2 1.0
Belgium -1.1 -9.3 13.8 -2.9 -17.4 -1.5 -3.8 -13.7
Denmark 1.0 -5.8 16.7 -2.1 -15.7 0.4 -0.9 -16.2
France 0.0 -3.3 11.6 -3.5 -16.4 -3.2 -4.2 -13.8
Germany NA NA NA NA -15.7 -0.6 -3.7 -15.4
Italy 1.0 -2.5 15.1 -3.4 -7.9 -2.6 -1.9 -13.8
Netherlands NA -7.6 12.7 NA -12.9 -0.7 -3.3 NA
Norway 2.5 -1.7 13.3 0.0 -5.7 -0.9 2.9 -8.0
Sweden -0.6 -5.2 14.7 -4.9 -13.8 -5.0 -4.3 -11.7
United Kingdom 2.3 -1.3 11.3 0.3 7.2 5.2 -2.0 -7.5
Exchange rates 3/
United States --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Canada -1.1 -2.5 3.2 -2.4 -1.5 -6.7 -0.1 0.0
Japan 3.4 -1.5 10.5 3.0 -10.1 -7.6 15.2 5.5
Korea -4.0 -9.2 3.9 -4.5 -15.3 -32.1 17.7 5.2
Taiwan 0.7 -1.7 8.2 -1.5 -4.5 -14.2 3.8 3.4
Belgium -1.9 -11.1 12.2 -2.6 -13.5 -1.4 -4.1 -13.3
Denmark -2.0 -11.0 11.4 -2.6 -12.2 -1.4 -4.1 -13.7
France -2.4 -11.7 10.5 -2.6 -12.4 -1.0 -4.2 -13.3
Germany NA NA NA NA -13.3 -1.4 -4.2 -13.3
Italy -4.3 -12.9 9.8 -5.4 -9.5 -1.9 -4.4 -13.3
Netherlands -0.8 -8.0 12.7 -2.7 -13.6 -1.6 -4.1 -13.3
Norway -2.6 -8.4 6.6 -3.4 -8.8 -6.2 -3.3 -11.4
Sweden -3.6 -11.0 7.8 -4.3 -12.2 -3.9 -3.9 -9.8
United Kingdom -1.6 -7.9 6.6 -1.6 4.9 1.2 -2.4 -6.3
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.
-14-
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 4.)
PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT:
Chart 4. U.S. manufacturing unit labor costs relative to 12
competitors, 1979-2000
The construction of the indexes shown in chart 4 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; the weights reflect
each country's importance in terms of U.S. trade in manufactured goods.
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 4, the solid line indicates that U.S. unit labor costs
rose faster than "competitors" costs from 1979 to 1986 on a U.S. dollar
basis. In most years from 1986 to 1995, U.S. costs either rose at a
slower rate than the "competitors" costs or fell at a faster rate.
From 1995 to 1998, however, the strength of the U.S. dollar caused
relative U.S. unit labor costs to rise. After a dip in 1999, the index
of relative U.S. unit labor costs rose again in 2000. The data
underlying this chart are shown in table C.
-15-
Table C. U.S. manufacturing unit labor
costs relative to 12 competitors, 1979-2000
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 111.4 111.5 99.9 111.4 109.8 101.5
1981 116.5 120.4 96.8 116.5 109.5 106.4
1982 124.2 128.6 96.6 124.2 105.9 117.3
1983 121.6 131.0 92.8 121.6 104.8 116.0
1984 121.0 131.7 91.9 121.0 99.7 121.4
1985 123.4 133.2 92.6 123.4 97.7 126.2
1986 128.9 138.8 92.8 128.9 122.2 105.5
1987 122.8 141.0 87.1 122.8 140.2 87.6
1988 122.5 142.4 86.1 122.5 153.0 80.1
1989 128.0 146.1 87.6 128.0 152.7 83.8
1990 132.4 152.2 87.0 132.4 164.1 80.7
1991 138.0 159.0 86.8 138.0 174.2 79.3
1992 141.3 163.1 86.7 141.3 181.9 77.7
1993 142.3 164.1 86.7 142.3 178.6 79.6
1994 139.2 162.0 85.9 139.2 179.1 77.7
1995 134.0 162.3 82.6 134.0 189.2 70.8
1996 132.1 163.3 80.9 132.1 180.8 73.1
1997 129.9 161.0 80.7 129.9 165.0 78.8
1998 131.0 163.3 80.2 131.0 155.5 84.2
1999 127.8 160.3 79.7 127.8 158.8 80.5
2000 127.1 157.5 80.7 127.1 152.6 83.3
-16-
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, the measures relate to total manufacturing as defined by
the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC). However,
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 2001 by the statistical agencies of the individual
countries. For some countries, the data for the most recent years are
based on the European System of Integrated National Accounts (ESA 95)
or on the United Nations System of National Accounts 1993 (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.
Estimation of manufacturing real output using moving weights is
becoming prevalent. However, many historical real output series have
been estimated using fixed price weights, with the weights updated
periodically (for example, every 5 or 10 years).
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 aggregate hours worked series used for France (from
1970 forward), Norway, Sweden, and Canada are series published with the
-17-
national accounts. For the former West Germany after 1959 and 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 United Kingdom from 1992, an index of total manufacturing hours
is used, derived from published quarterly indices of manufacturing
hours. For other countries, the United Kingdom before 1992, and the
former West Germany before 1959, BLS constructs its own estimates of
average hours, using employment figures published with the national
accounts, or other comprehensive employment series, and estimates of
average annual hours worked. 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 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 United States 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
-18-
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 Organization 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.
- 19 -
Table 1. Output per hour in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 NA 26.5 NA NA NA NA 22.6 13.4 NA 13.2 12.2 11.2 24.7 19.5 24.5
1955 NA 32.5 8.6 NA NA NA 24.6 16.8 NA 19.7 17.0 14.3 28.7 21.3 26.5
1960 NA 38.5 13.8 NA NA 18.0 29.9 21.9 NA 29.2 21.3 18.5 37.0 27.3 30.0
1961 NA 40.6 15.6 NA NA 18.2 31.6 23.3 NA 30.6 23.0 19.5 38.3 28.7 30.1
1962 NA 43.6 16.4 NA NA 19.2 33.2 24.8 NA 32.8 25.5 20.2 38.3 30.9 30.7
1963 NA 45.4 17.7 NA NA 19.9 34.3 26.1 NA 34.1 26.2 21.0 40.3 32.7 32.4
1964 NA 47.2 20.1 NA NA 21.2 37.1 28.1 NA 37.1 26.4 23.0 42.6 35.5 34.5
1965 NA 49.5 21.0 NA NA 22.3 38.9 30.1 NA 39.3 29.5 24.5 45.1 38.2 35.5
1966 NA 50.4 23.0 NA NA 23.8 40.8 32.5 NA 40.9 32.0 26.1 47.0 39.8 36.7
1967 NA 50.9 26.0 NA NA 25.1 43.8 34.6 NA 43.4 33.6 28.1 48.7 43.2 38.4
1968 NA 53.8 29.1 NA NA 27.3 47.8 38.2 NA 47.0 36.3 31.5 51.7 47.2 41.3
1969 NA 56.4 33.4 NA NA 29.9 49.8 40.6 NA 50.4 37.6 34.6 56.5 50.9 42.3
1970 NA 56.0 37.5 NA NA 32.9 52.7 43.0 NA 52.0 40.0 37.8 58.3 52.2 43.2
1971 NA 59.4 39.8 NA NA 35.1 56.3 45.5 NA 54.0 40.6 40.1 60.0 54.5 45.4
1972 NA 62.5 43.6 NA NA 39.2 60.8 47.6 NA 57.4 44.1 43.3 63.1 57.2 47.9
1973 NA 66.5 47.6 NA NA 43.5 66.9 50.9 NA 61.1 47.7 47.9 66.9 61.4 51.4
1974 NA 67.5 48.8 NA NA 45.8 69.1 52.1 NA 63.2 50.8 51.5 69.5 64.0 52.2
1975 NA 64.7 50.2 NA NA 47.6 76.1 53.9 NA 65.9 49.1 50.8 68.8 65.0 51.1
1976 NA 70.1 53.2 NA NA 52.4 78.8 57.2 NA 70.6 55.9 56.3 70.5 66.0 53.3
1977 68.3 73.9 55.3 NA NA 55.0 80.4 60.6 NA 72.7 57.0 60.9 71.5 65.0 53.8
1978 69.2 75.2 57.5 NA NA 58.3 81.6 63.3 NA 75.2 60.7 64.9 72.8 66.8 54.6
1979 70.1 75.3 62.2 NA NA 61.4 85.6 66.2 NA 78.4 66.5 68.1 78.1 72.0 55.0
1980 70.5 74.4 63.2 NA NA 65.4 90.3 66.6 NA 77.2 69.6 68.7 76.7 73.1 54.3
1981 74.1 78.0 65.2 NA NA 70.1 91.8 68.5 NA 78.7 70.3 70.3 76.5 72.7 57.1
1982 76.2 77.3 67.9 NA NA 73.5 92.1 73.3 NA 78.8 71.0 71.6 79.7 75.4 60.2
1983 80.0 82.2 68.8 NA NA 81.0 96.6 75.0 NA 82.6 73.4 77.3 82.4 80.9 65.0
1984 83.2 90.2 71.1 NA NA 85.0 96.1 76.2 NA 85.4 79.6 84.8 87.4 85.2 68.4
1985 86.0 92.2 76.5 NA NA 87.0 96.7 79.1 NA 89.1 84.1 88.4 90.2 86.2 71.1
1986 86.0 89.6 76.1 NA NA 87.8 91.1 80.4 NA 89.6 84.5 90.1 89.0 87.5 73.9
1987 92.9 90.3 80.2 NA NA 88.9 90.6 81.9 NA 88.1 86.0 90.9 93.3 89.2 78.1
1988 96.9 90.7 83.9 NA NA 92.0 94.1 87.5 NA 91.5 87.2 93.0 92.2 90.5 82.6
1989 95.7 93.2 88.5 NA NA 96.9 99.6 91.9 NA 94.6 89.6 96.8 94.6 93.2 86.2
1990 96.9 94.7 94.4 NA NA 96.8 99.1 93.6 NA 99.0 92.2 98.4 96.6 94.6 89.1
1991 97.9 95.5 99.0 NA NA 99.1 99.6 96.9 99.0 101.9 95.4 99.5 97.5 95.5 93.8
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 102.1 104.9 101.7 NA NA 102.5 104.5 100.6 101.8 100.6 103.1 101.5 100.6 107.3 103.9
1994 107.3 109.7 103.3 NA NA 108.4 NA 108.6 109.9 107.9 105.8 113.2 101.4 119.4 107.1
1995 113.8 111.3 111.0 NA NA 113.2 NA 114.7 112.8 111.2 109.4 118.0 102.0 121.9 104.8
1996 117.0 110.1 116.1 NA NA 117.1 NA 115.3 115.3 115.1 109.3 120.1 102.0 124.5 103.5
1997 121.2 113.2 121.0 NA NA 126.8 NA 123.8 121.0 121.8 111.6 122.2 103.0 132.3 105.0
1998 126.7 113.1 121.2 NA NA 128.8 NA 129.5 121.0 127.1 111.1 124.9 103.6 139.5 106.3
1999 135.1 114.9 125.8 NA NA 128.9 NA 132.9 122.4 NA 111.8 127.7 103.1 143.5 110.8
2000 144.7 116.3 132.6 NA NA 132.8 NA 140.5 129.8 NA 115.7 NA 104.2 150.4 116.4
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 other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 20 -
Table 2. Output per employed person in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 NA 28.8 NA NA NA NA 31.8 16.2 NA 19.2 13.4 14.6 32.3 25.3 30.1
1955 NA 34.1 10.3 NA NA NA 34.0 20.2 NA 28.8 19.2 18.7 37.7 27.5 32.9
1960 NA 40.1 17.1 NA NA 22.6 39.2 26.5 NA 38.4 24.3 24.4 46.7 33.3 36.5
1961 NA 42.1 19.1 NA NA 22.9 40.2 28.3 NA 39.6 26.0 24.7 47.6 34.7 36.1
1962 NA 45.5 19.6 NA NA 24.1 42.6 30.0 NA 41.3 27.9 25.4 47.4 37.1 36.5
1963 NA 47.5 21.0 NA NA 25.0 43.3 31.7 NA 42.4 28.8 26.3 49.7 38.9 38.5
1964 NA 49.7 23.7 NA NA 26.5 47.2 33.9 NA 46.1 29.1 28.5 52.8 41.8 41.3
1965 NA 52.1 24.3 NA NA 27.4 49.5 35.9 NA 48.7 31.3 30.3 54.6 44.5 42.0
1966 NA 52.6 26.8 NA NA 29.1 51.0 39.1 NA 50.0 34.4 32.1 57.1 46.4 42.6
1967 NA 53.2 30.4 NA NA 30.3 54.1 41.1 NA 51.7 36.6 34.4 58.6 49.5 44.2
1968 NA 56.0 33.9 NA NA 33.0 57.7 44.1 NA 56.6 39.5 37.9 60.7 52.9 48.0
1969 NA 58.6 38.3 NA NA 35.7 59.3 48.1 NA 60.7 40.7 41.1 64.9 56.1 49.1
1970 NA 57.8 42.6 NA NA 38.3 60.8 50.3 NA 62.4 42.5 44.0 66.3 57.4 49.4
1971 NA 61.0 44.5 NA NA 40.2 64.6 52.8 NA 63.4 42.0 46.2 67.6 59.8 50.6
1972 NA 64.3 48.5 NA NA 43.9 68.4 54.7 NA 66.6 45.3 49.2 70.0 61.1 52.9
1973 NA 67.9 52.4 NA NA 47.6 71.2 57.6 NA 70.4 49.6 53.4 73.9 64.4 57.5
1974 NA 68.5 51.5 NA NA 48.7 75.0 58.1 NA 71.4 50.9 55.6 75.6 66.5 56.6
1975 NA 64.8 51.8 NA NA 48.0 79.9 58.4 NA 72.5 48.4 53.8 74.5 66.2 55.2
1976 NA 70.3 56.5 NA NA 53.8 83.2 62.1 NA 79.9 55.0 59.6 74.2 66.4 58.1
1977 67.1 74.0 58.9 NA NA 56.1 84.1 65.2 NA 81.1 55.9 64.2 74.1 64.9 59.0
1978 67.9 76.0 61.5 NA NA 59.4 84.3 67.6 NA 82.8 59.4 67.7 73.9 64.9 59.6
1979 68.4 75.7 67.0 NA NA 62.6 88.4 70.6 NA 86.0 64.6 70.2 78.0 69.0 59.8
1980 67.9 74.0 68.0 NA NA 65.6 93.9 71.0 NA 83.5 67.7 71.3 77.0 69.3 57.4
1981 71.4 76.9 69.7 NA NA 68.7 94.3 72.1 NA 84.1 68.4 73.3 76.9 69.3 59.2
1982 72.1 75.7 72.3 NA NA 73.7 96.0 74.0 NA 83.7 68.9 75.4 79.4 72.1 62.9
1983 77.8 81.5 73.4 NA NA 79.2 102.1 75.4 NA 87.9 71.3 81.5 82.5 78.3 67.8
1984 82.0 89.3 76.6 NA NA 82.5 101.2 76.7 NA 90.9 77.3 88.1 87.4 84.0 71.4
1985 84.9 91.9 82.1 NA NA 85.7 98.4 79.2 NA 93.1 81.0 89.5 89.8 84.4 73.8
1986 84.8 89.6 81.2 NA NA 86.5 94.9 80.6 NA 93.0 83.4 90.9 88.7 85.3 76.4
1987 92.1 91.1 86.0 NA NA 88.4 92.2 82.6 NA 91.3 86.4 91.2 90.7 88.0 80.9
1988 96.9 93.4 90.9 NA NA 93.0 95.8 88.6 NA 94.4 90.6 94.0 90.3 89.1 85.7
1989 95.7 93.9 94.8 NA NA 97.5 100.2 92.9 NA 96.2 92.9 97.3 93.3 91.5 89.0
1990 96.3 94.9 99.7 NA NA 98.5 98.4 94.1 NA 98.8 93.4 98.8 95.1 94.0 91.2
1991 96.6 95.3 102.2 NA NA 99.2 99.3 96.4 94.7 101.0 95.5 99.7 96.4 94.7 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 103.4 106.0 99.6 NA NA 100.9 103.6 100.5 99.4 97.6 101.1 101.5 100.9 110.0 104.9
1994 109.7 111.9 101.4 NA NA 109.7 114.0 108.5 107.9 104.7 106.6 113.2 101.9 127.3 109.5
1995 115.6 113.1 109.7 NA NA 113.3 116.9 113.9 110.6 107.3 110.3 118.4 101.6 131.2 109.1
1996 118.7 112.6 115.4 NA NA 117.6 111.6 114.5 110.4 109.3 109.3 120.3 101.1 134.2 108.0
1997 123.9 115.7 119.6 NA NA 127.5 121.4 122.7 115.9 116.0 112.1 122.0 101.9 142.9 109.0
1998 128.2 116.0 117.3 NA NA 129.8 122.9 128.0 117.1 122.3 111.3 124.4 102.6 150.9 109.6
1999 137.7 118.9 121.5 NA NA 132.7 124.5 130.7 118.0 NA 111.6 127.2 102.1 155.7 113.8
2000 147.0 120.3 130.9 NA NA 135.1 133.4 133.5 123.8 NA 115.3 NA 102.0 163.5 120.0
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 other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 21 -
Table 3. Output in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 NA 22.5 2.2 NA NA NA 26.8 18.4 NA 14.5 10.1 16.7 38.5 30.9 49.6
1955 NA 29.1 4.9 NA NA NA 29.4 22.9 NA 27.5 15.6 22.8 47.2 35.7 58.3
1960 NA 34.0 10.7 NA NA 30.7 40.8 31.0 NA 41.5 23.0 31.5 57.0 45.9 67.3
1961 NA 35.4 12.9 NA NA 32.1 43.0 33.3 NA 44.0 25.4 32.6 59.4 49.0 67.6
1962 NA 39.3 14.0 NA NA 34.6 46.7 35.7 NA 46.2 28.1 34.2 59.8 52.8 67.7
1963 NA 42.0 15.6 NA NA 36.2 47.3 38.4 NA 47.1 29.9 35.7 63.4 55.4 70.2
1964 NA 45.9 18.1 NA NA 39.5 52.9 42.0 NA 51.2 30.3 39.0 67.9 60.3 76.5
1965 NA 50.5 18.8 NA NA 40.8 56.3 44.1 NA 55.0 31.9 41.7 71.5 64.5 78.7
1966 NA 53.9 21.3 NA NA 43.2 57.5 48.1 NA 55.9 34.8 44.0 75.8 66.3 80.1
1967 NA 55.0 25.6 NA NA 43.7 58.1 50.4 NA 54.7 38.3 45.7 78.2 68.5 80.6
1968 NA 58.1 29.5 NA NA 46.7 62.6 53.2 NA 60.3 41.8 50.1 80.1 72.0 86.6
1969 NA 61.9 34.4 NA NA 52.2 66.0 59.6 NA 67.4 44.5 54.9 86.0 77.7 89.9
1970 NA 60.0 39.2 7.0 12.7 57.6 68.0 64.1 NA 70.9 48.1 59.1 89.9 80.7 90.2
1971 NA 63.7 41.0 8.3 15.5 60.1 69.4 68.1 NA 71.6 48.8 61.1 92.3 81.2 89.3
1972 NA 69.2 44.7 9.5 18.9 64.7 75.3 71.3 NA 73.8 51.5 62.7 96.5 81.7 91.2
1973 NA 76.4 50.4 12.3 22.3 70.6 79.5 76.7 NA 78.5 58.1 67.2 102.0 87.5 99.7
1974 NA 77.9 49.1 14.3 21.0 73.4 80.7 78.2 NA 77.7 61.8 69.7 105.6 92.2 98.4
1975 NA 71.8 46.6 16.2 22.0 67.9 78.7 76.6 NA 74.1 58.3 65.1 103.2 92.5 91.6
1976 NA 77.9 50.6 19.9 27.0 73.0 82.5 81.1 NA 79.8 66.9 69.1 102.8 92.5 93.3
1977 72.5 80.3 52.2 22.8 30.6 73.3 82.9 84.8 NA 81.3 69.3 72.5 102.7 87.2 95.2
1978 76.5 84.9 53.7 27.5 37.1 74.3 82.7 86.8 NA 82.8 72.7 74.8 100.6 84.9 95.7
1979 79.0 87.6 58.4 30.1 40.0 76.2 87.4 89.3 NA 87.1 80.3 76.7 104.7 90.3 95.5
1980 75.8 85.2 60.4 29.9 44.0 78.2 91.3 88.7 NA 85.3 84.4 76.8 103.6 90.7 87.2
1981 79.2 88.3 62.6 32.7 47.3 77.2 88.4 87.3 NA 84.4 81.8 77.0 101.7 88.0 81.8
1982 74.6 78.9 64.6 34.6 48.5 80.4 89.8 88.2 NA 81.5 80.2 76.1 101.3 88.3 81.7
1983 79.2 82.7 66.6 39.5 54.1 84.6 95.8 88.0 NA 82.7 79.6 78.5 99.9 93.9 83.5
1984 87.6 93.2 71.0 46.0 62.2 87.2 100.3 87.0 NA 85.2 82.2 83.0 104.7 101.3 86.5
1985 90.0 98.1 76.7 48.8 64.3 89.1 103.5 87.3 NA 88.3 84.9 85.4 108.5 102.9 89.0
1986 88.6 98.9 75.5 57.9 74.7 89.1 103.5 87.3 NA 89.7 86.4 87.6 108.1 104.0 90.2
1987 96.4 103.6 79.0 68.5 84.3 88.8 99.3 87.2 NA 88.0 89.0 88.8 110.7 106.6 94.5
1988 103.2 109.9 85.3 76.7 87.7 93.3 100.8 92.2 NA 90.9 95.0 92.1 105.3 109.8 101.4
1989 102.4 112.1 90.9 79.4 90.8 99.1 104.3 97.2 NA 94.0 98.3 96.6 101.3 110.9 105.5
1990 101.6 107.5 97.1 86.7 90.0 101.0 102.7 99.1 NA 99.1 99.4 99.9 100.2 110.1 105.3
1991 98.3 99.2 102.0 95.0 96.1 100.7 101.7 99.8 102.3 102.8 99.3 100.4 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 103.5 105.0 96.3 105.4 102.4 97.0 99.0 95.7 92.5 91.8 96.5 98.4 102.7 101.9 101.4
1994 111.1 113.0 94.9 116.8 108.5 101.4 109.3 100.3 95.2 93.5 102.4 104.6 106.7 117.1 106.1
1995 118.4 118.5 98.9 129.9 114.9 104.2 114.7 104.9 95.3 93.7 107.2 108.1 109.0 128.4 107.8
1996 121.3 120.0 103.0 138.7 120.3 106.6 109.7 104.6 92.6 92.5 105.4 108.7 110.1 131.1 108.2
1997 127.9 127.3 106.5 147.8 128.3 113.8 118.5 109.7 95.7 95.8 108.8 111.5 115.7 138.0 109.6
1998 133.3 132.5 100.2 136.8 132.6 116.3 120.8 115.0 97.1 100.7 110.5 115.2 117.7 147.6 110.1
1999 141.0 140.8 101.0 165.6 141.5 117.7 119.8 117.3 97.5 NA 110.2 118.7 114.0 153.6 110.1
2000 149.5 148.8 106.9 191.1 152.0 122.0 127.4 121.2 103.0 NA 113.9 NA 110.9 163.4 111.9
NA: Not Available
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 22 -
Table 4. Total hours in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 85.5 84.8 NA NA NA NA 118.7 137.1 NA 109.8 83.1 148.6 156.1 158.5 202.2
1955 94.6 89.4 57.0 NA NA NA 119.8 136.1 NA 139.6 92.0 159.1 164.2 167.3 220.2
1960 92.1 88.3 77.8 NA NA 170.7 136.5 141.2 NA 142.3 108.1 170.6 154.1 168.3 224.6
1961 89.7 87.2 82.4 NA NA 175.9 136.2 142.8 NA 143.9 110.3 167.1 154.9 171.0 224.7
1962 93.4 90.3 85.2 NA NA 180.3 140.7 144.0 NA 140.8 110.2 169.2 156.3 170.8 220.3
1963 94.4 92.6 87.9 NA NA 181.8 138.0 147.3 NA 138.1 114.3 169.5 157.3 169.1 216.6
1964 96.4 97.2 90.0 NA NA 186.5 142.6 149.1 NA 138.0 114.6 170.0 159.6 169.6 221.7
1965 102.0 101.9 89.8 NA NA 183.2 144.9 146.4 NA 140.0 108.2 170.4 158.5 168.8 221.5
1966 108.6 106.8 92.8 NA NA 181.5 140.8 147.8 NA 136.7 108.8 168.3 161.2 166.5 218.2
1967 108.0 107.9 98.3 NA NA 173.6 132.7 145.8 NA 125.9 113.8 162.7 160.5 158.4 209.8
1968 109.6 108.2 101.4 NA NA 170.9 130.9 139.3 NA 128.3 115.4 158.8 155.0 152.6 209.6
1969 110.9 109.7 103.0 NA NA 174.9 132.7 146.9 NA 133.8 118.5 158.5 152.1 152.5 212.4
1970 104.4 107.1 104.4 NA NA 174.7 129.0 148.9 NA 136.3 120.2 156.2 154.3 154.7 208.8
1971 100.5 107.4 103.1 NA NA 171.4 123.3 149.6 NA 132.5 120.0 152.4 153.8 149.1 196.9
1972 105.1 110.8 102.6 NA NA 165.2 123.8 149.8 NA 128.7 116.8 144.9 153.0 142.9 190.5
1973 110.4 114.9 106.0 NA NA 162.1 118.8 150.6 NA 128.4 121.7 140.2 152.5 142.5 194.1
1974 107.9 115.5 100.6 NA NA 160.4 116.7 150.2 NA 122.9 121.7 135.4 151.9 144.0 188.5
1975 97.2 111.1 92.8 NA NA 142.6 103.5 142.2 NA 112.5 118.6 128.2 150.0 142.3 179.3
1976 101.9 111.1 95.1 NA NA 139.4 104.7 141.8 NA 113.1 119.8 122.7 145.8 140.2 175.1
1977 106.1 108.8 94.4 NA NA 133.3 103.1 140.0 NA 111.8 121.5 119.1 143.6 134.2 176.9
1978 110.6 112.8 93.4 NA NA 127.4 101.4 137.2 NA 110.1 119.7 115.2 138.3 127.1 175.4
1979 112.7 116.2 93.8 NA NA 124.2 102.1 134.8 NA 111.0 120.7 112.7 134.0 125.5 173.7
1980 107.5 114.6 95.6 NA NA 119.7 101.1 133.2 NA 110.5 121.3 111.8 135.0 124.0 160.5
1981 107.0 113.2 95.9 NA NA 110.2 96.3 127.4 NA 107.1 116.4 109.4 133.0 121.0 143.3
1982 97.9 102.0 95.1 NA NA 109.4 97.5 120.2 NA 103.4 113.0 106.3 127.1 117.2 135.6
1983 98.9 100.7 96.8 NA NA 104.3 99.2 117.4 NA 100.1 108.4 101.6 121.2 116.1 128.4
1984 105.3 103.4 99.8 NA NA 102.6 104.4 114.2 NA 99.7 103.2 97.9 119.7 118.9 126.4
1985 104.6 106.4 100.3 NA NA 102.4 107.0 110.4 NA 99.1 100.8 96.7 120.2 119.4 125.2
1986 103.0 110.5 99.2 NA NA 101.5 113.7 108.6 NA 100.1 102.2 97.3 121.6 118.9 122.0
1987 103.8 114.7 98.5 NA NA 100.0 109.6 106.5 NA 99.9 103.5 97.7 118.6 119.5 121.0
1988 106.6 121.2 101.7 NA NA 101.5 107.2 105.4 NA 99.3 109.0 99.0 114.3 121.4 122.8
1989 107.1 120.2 102.7 NA NA 102.3 104.7 105.8 NA 99.3 109.8 99.8 107.1 119.0 122.4
1990 104.8 113.5 102.9 NA NA 104.3 103.7 105.9 NA 100.1 107.8 101.5 103.7 116.4 118.1
1991 100.4 103.9 103.1 NA NA 101.5 102.1 103.1 103.3 100.9 104.2 101.0 100.8 109.0 106.6
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 94.7 NA NA 94.7 94.8 95.1 90.8 91.3 93.6 96.9 102.1 94.9 97.6
1994 103.6 103.0 91.9 NA NA 93.6 NA 92.4 86.6 86.7 96.8 92.4 105.2 98.1 99.1
1995 104.0 106.4 89.1 NA NA 92.0 NA 91.5 84.5 84.3 98.0 91.6 106.8 105.3 102.8
1996 103.6 109.0 88.7 NA NA 91.1 NA 90.7 80.3 80.4 96.5 90.5 107.9 105.3 104.6
1997 105.5 112.4 88.0 NA NA 89.7 NA 88.6 79.1 78.6 97.5 91.2 112.3 104.3 104.4
1998 105.2 117.1 82.7 NA NA 90.3 NA 88.8 80.2 79.3 99.4 92.2 113.6 105.8 103.6
1999 104.3 122.6 80.3 NA NA 91.3 NA 88.3 79.6 NA 98.6 93.0 110.6 107.1 99.4
2000 103.4 128.0 80.6 NA NA 91.8 NA 86.2 79.4 NA 98.5 NA 106.4 108.6 96.1
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 other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 23 -
Table 5. Employment in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 84.3 77.9 NA NA NA NA 84.4 113.7 NA 75.2 75.4 114.1 119.2 122.0 164.7
1955 93.1 85.3 47.8 NA NA NA 86.7 113.3 NA 95.5 81.4 121.8 125.1 129.7 177.1
1960 92.6 84.8 62.8 NA NA 135.7 104.1 116.9 NA 108.1 94.6 129.4 122.2 137.8 184.4
1961 90.0 84.1 67.5 NA NA 140.1 107.0 117.7 NA 111.3 97.5 132.2 124.8 141.3 186.9
1962 92.8 86.5 71.3 NA NA 143.3 109.7 118.9 NA 111.8 100.6 134.7 126.2 142.2 185.2
1963 93.5 88.5 74.1 NA NA 144.7 109.3 121.5 NA 111.0 103.8 135.4 127.7 142.4 182.3
1964 94.9 92.5 76.4 NA NA 148.8 112.0 123.7 NA 111.0 104.1 137.1 128.8 144.3 185.1
1965 99.3 96.9 77.4 NA NA 148.7 113.9 122.5 NA 113.0 101.7 137.9 130.8 144.8 187.5
1966 105.4 102.4 79.7 NA NA 148.5 112.8 123.2 NA 111.8 101.1 137.0 132.7 143.0 188.0
1967 106.7 103.3 84.3 NA NA 143.9 107.5 122.7 NA 105.8 104.4 132.9 133.5 138.3 182.2
1968 108.5 103.8 87.2 NA NA 141.5 108.5 120.6 NA 106.6 105.8 132.1 132.0 136.0 180.5
1969 110.6 105.7 89.7 NA NA 146.3 111.4 124.1 NA 111.0 109.4 133.7 132.6 138.4 183.0
1970 106.3 103.9 91.9 NA NA 150.2 111.9 127.3 NA 113.6 113.0 134.3 135.5 140.6 182.6
1971 102.2 104.4 92.3 NA NA 149.6 107.3 128.9 NA 112.9 116.0 132.2 136.4 135.9 176.4
1972 105.0 107.7 92.3 NA NA 147.4 110.1 130.4 NA 110.8 113.8 127.5 137.8 133.8 172.3
1973 110.5 112.5 96.2 NA NA 148.4 111.6 133.2 NA 111.5 117.1 125.8 138.1 135.8 173.3
1974 110.1 113.9 95.3 NA NA 150.7 107.6 134.6 NA 108.9 121.4 125.4 139.6 138.7 173.9
1975 100.6 110.9 90.0 NA NA 141.5 98.5 131.2 NA 102.2 120.4 121.0 138.6 139.8 166.0
1976 104.2 110.7 89.5 NA NA 135.8 99.2 130.5 NA 99.9 121.6 116.0 138.4 139.4 160.7
1977 108.2 108.5 88.6 NA NA 130.5 98.5 130.0 NA 100.3 123.9 113.1 138.6 134.5 161.2
1978 112.7 111.7 87.4 NA NA 125.0 98.0 128.4 NA 100.0 122.4 110.5 136.1 130.7 160.6
1979 115.6 115.7 87.2 NA NA 121.8 98.8 126.5 NA 101.2 124.3 109.3 134.2 131.0 159.6
1980 111.6 115.1 88.9 NA NA 119.3 97.2 125.0 NA 102.2 124.7 107.8 134.5 130.9 151.8
1981 111.0 114.8 89.8 NA NA 112.4 93.8 121.0 NA 100.3 119.7 105.0 132.3 127.0 138.1
1982 103.5 104.3 89.3 NA NA 109.2 93.6 119.1 NA 97.4 116.4 101.0 127.6 122.4 129.9
1983 101.8 101.6 90.8 NA NA 106.8 93.9 116.7 NA 94.1 111.7 96.4 121.0 119.9 123.3
1984 106.8 104.4 92.7 NA NA 105.7 99.1 113.4 NA 93.7 106.4 94.2 119.8 120.5 121.2
1985 106.0 106.8 93.5 NA NA 104.0 105.2 110.3 NA 94.9 104.8 95.4 120.7 122.0 120.6
1986 104.5 110.4 93.0 NA NA 103.0 109.1 108.3 NA 96.4 103.6 96.5 122.0 121.9 118.0
1987 104.7 113.7 91.9 NA NA 100.5 107.7 105.6 NA 96.4 103.1 97.4 122.0 121.1 116.9
1988 106.6 117.6 93.9 NA NA 100.4 105.3 104.1 NA 96.3 104.9 98.0 116.6 123.3 118.3
1989 107.0 119.4 95.9 NA NA 101.7 104.1 104.7 NA 97.6 105.8 99.3 108.7 121.2 118.6
1990 105.4 113.2 97.5 NA NA 102.5 104.3 105.4 NA 100.3 106.4 101.1 105.4 117.2 115.5
1991 101.8 104.1 99.8 NA NA 101.5 102.4 103.6 108.0 101.8 104.1 100.7 101.9 109.9 106.6
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 96.8 NA NA 96.1 95.5 95.2 93.0 94.0 95.5 96.9 101.8 92.6 96.7
1994 101.3 100.9 93.6 NA NA 92.5 95.8 92.4 88.2 89.3 96.1 92.4 104.7 92.0 97.0
1995 102.5 104.8 90.1 NA NA 91.9 98.1 92.1 86.2 87.3 97.2 91.3 107.2 97.9 98.8
1996 102.2 106.6 89.3 NA NA 90.6 98.3 91.3 83.8 84.6 96.4 90.3 108.9 97.6 100.1
1997 103.2 110.0 89.1 NA NA 89.2 97.5 89.4 82.6 82.6 97.1 91.4 113.6 96.6 100.6
1998 104.0 114.2 85.5 NA NA 89.6 98.3 89.8 82.9 82.4 99.2 92.6 114.7 97.8 100.4
1999 102.4 118.5 83.2 NA NA 88.7 96.3 89.7 82.6 NA 98.8 93.4 111.6 98.7 96.8
2000 101.7 123.7 81.7 NA NA 90.3 95.5 90.8 83.2 NA 98.9 NA 108.7 100.0 93.2
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 other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 24 -
Table 6. Annual hours per employed person in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 101.4 108.8 NA NA NA NA 140.7 120.6 NA 146.0 110.2 130.3 130.9 129.9 122.8
1955 101.5 104.8 119.3 NA NA NA 138.2 120.1 NA 146.1 113.0 130.6 131.2 129.0 124.3
1960 99.5 104.1 123.9 NA NA 125.8 131.2 120.8 NA 131.7 114.3 131.9 126.1 122.1 121.8
1961 99.6 103.6 122.0 NA NA 125.5 127.3 121.3 NA 129.4 113.1 126.5 124.2 121.1 120.2
1962 100.6 104.4 119.5 NA NA 125.8 128.3 121.1 NA 126.0 109.5 125.6 123.8 120.1 119.0
1963 100.9 104.7 118.6 NA NA 125.7 126.3 121.2 NA 124.4 110.0 125.2 123.2 118.8 118.8
1964 101.6 105.1 117.9 NA NA 125.3 127.4 120.5 NA 124.3 110.0 124.0 124.0 117.5 119.8
1965 102.7 105.2 115.9 NA NA 123.2 127.2 119.4 NA 123.9 106.4 123.6 121.1 116.6 118.1
1966 103.0 104.4 116.5 NA NA 122.2 124.8 120.0 NA 122.3 107.6 122.9 121.4 116.4 116.1
1967 101.2 104.5 116.7 NA NA 120.7 123.4 118.9 NA 119.0 109.1 122.4 120.3 114.5 115.2
1968 101.0 104.2 116.4 NA NA 120.7 120.6 115.5 NA 120.4 109.1 120.2 117.4 112.2 116.1
1969 100.2 103.9 114.8 NA NA 119.5 119.1 118.4 NA 120.6 108.3 118.5 114.7 110.2 116.1
1970 98.2 103.2 113.6 NA NA 116.3 115.3 117.0 NA 119.9 106.4 116.4 113.9 110.0 114.3
1971 98.4 102.8 111.8 NA NA 114.6 114.9 116.1 NA 117.3 103.4 115.3 112.7 109.7 111.6
1972 100.0 102.9 111.1 NA NA 112.0 112.4 114.9 NA 116.2 102.7 113.6 111.0 106.8 110.6
1973 99.9 102.1 110.2 NA NA 109.3 106.4 113.1 NA 115.2 103.9 111.4 110.4 104.9 112.0
1974 98.0 101.5 105.6 NA NA 106.4 108.5 111.6 NA 112.9 100.3 108.0 108.9 103.8 108.4
1975 96.6 100.2 103.2 NA NA 100.7 105.1 108.3 NA 110.1 98.5 106.0 108.2 101.8 108.0
1976 97.7 100.3 106.2 NA NA 102.6 105.6 108.7 NA 113.2 98.5 105.8 105.4 100.6 109.0
1977 98.1 100.3 106.5 NA NA 102.1 104.6 107.7 NA 111.5 98.0 105.3 103.6 99.8 109.7
1978 98.1 101.0 106.9 NA NA 101.9 103.4 106.8 NA 110.1 97.8 104.3 101.6 97.2 109.3
1979 97.5 100.5 107.6 NA NA 102.0 103.3 106.6 NA 109.7 97.1 103.1 99.9 95.8 108.8
1980 96.3 99.6 107.6 NA NA 100.4 104.0 106.6 NA 108.1 97.3 103.7 100.4 94.8 105.7
1981 96.4 98.7 106.8 NA NA 98.1 102.7 105.3 NA 106.8 97.3 104.2 100.6 95.3 103.7
1982 94.6 97.8 106.5 NA NA 100.2 104.2 100.9 NA 106.2 97.1 105.3 99.7 95.7 104.4
1983 97.2 99.1 106.6 NA NA 97.7 105.6 100.6 NA 106.4 97.1 105.4 100.1 96.9 104.2
1984 98.6 99.0 107.7 NA NA 97.1 105.3 100.7 NA 106.4 97.1 104.0 99.9 98.6 104.3
1985 98.7 99.6 107.3 NA NA 98.5 101.8 100.1 NA 104.5 96.2 101.3 99.6 97.9 103.8
1986 98.6 100.1 106.7 NA NA 98.6 104.2 100.3 NA 103.9 98.6 100.8 99.7 97.5 103.4
1987 99.1 100.9 107.2 NA NA 99.4 101.8 100.9 NA 103.6 100.4 100.3 97.2 98.7 103.6
1988 100.0 103.0 108.3 NA NA 101.1 101.8 101.2 NA 103.2 104.0 101.1 98.0 98.5 103.8
1989 100.0 100.7 107.1 NA NA 100.6 100.6 101.0 NA 101.7 103.7 100.5 98.6 98.2 103.3
1990 99.4 100.2 105.6 NA NA 101.8 99.4 100.5 NA 99.8 101.2 100.5 98.4 99.3 102.3
1991 98.7 99.8 103.2 NA NA 100.0 99.7 99.5 95.6 99.1 100.1 100.2 98.9 99.2 100.1
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 101.3 101.0 97.9 NA NA 98.5 99.2 99.9 97.6 97.0 98.0 100.0 100.3 102.6 100.9
1994 102.2 102.0 98.1 NA NA 101.2 NA 99.9 98.2 97.1 100.7 100.0 100.5 106.6 102.2
1995 101.5 101.6 98.8 NA NA 100.1 NA 99.3 98.0 96.5 100.8 100.3 99.6 107.6 104.0
1996 101.5 102.3 99.4 NA NA 100.5 NA 99.4 95.8 95.0 100.0 100.2 99.1 107.9 104.4
1997 102.2 102.2 98.8 NA NA 100.6 NA 99.1 95.8 95.2 100.4 99.8 98.9 108.0 103.8
1998 101.2 102.6 96.7 NA NA 100.8 NA 98.9 96.8 96.2 100.2 99.6 99.1 108.2 103.1
1999 101.9 103.5 96.6 NA NA 102.9 NA 98.4 96.4 NA 99.8 99.6 99.0 108.5 102.7
2000 101.6 103.4 98.7 NA NA 101.7 NA 95.0 95.4 NA 99.6 NA 97.9 108.7 103.1
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 other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 25 -
Table 7. Hourly compensation in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada* Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France* Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden* Kingdom*
1950 8.7 5.4 NA NA NA NA 2.5 1.6 NA 3.4 0.8 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 2.2
1960 14.9 10.0 4.3 NA NA 5.4 4.6 4.3 NA 8.1 1.6 6.4 4.7 4.1 3.0
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 3.2
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 3.3
1963 16.4 11.1 6.4 NA NA 6.8 6.1 5.7 NA 11.0 2.5 8.6 6.1 5.5 3.5
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 3.7
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 4.1
1966 18.2 13.1 8.9 NA NA 9.4 8.4 7.1 NA 14.2 3.0 12.5 7.8 7.3 4.4
1967 19.2 13.8 10.0 NA NA 10.3 9.4 7.6 NA 15.0 3.3 13.8 8.8 8.1 4.6
1968 20.7 14.7 11.6 NA NA 11.0 10.3 8.6 NA 16.1 3.5 15.4 9.6 8.8 4.9
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 5.3
1970 23.7 17.1 16.4 NA NA 13.7 13.3 10.3 NA 20.7 4.7 20.2 11.8 10.7 6.1
1971 25.2 18.2 19.0 NA NA 15.9 15.2 11.6 NA 23.2 5.5 23.1 13.5 12.1 7.0
1972 26.5 19.5 21.9 NA NA 18.8 16.9 12.8 NA 25.6 6.1 26.5 15.2 13.5 8.1
1973 28.5 21.2 26.7 NA NA 22.3 20.5 14.7 NA 29.0 7.2 31.6 17.1 15.2 9.2
1974 31.6 24.6 35.0 NA NA 27.4 24.8 17.4 NA 33.0 9.4 37.7 20.1 17.9 11.1
1975 35.5 28.3 40.8 NA NA 33.1 29.6 21.3 NA 36.4 11.9 43.1 24.0 21.9 14.7
1976 38.4 32.5 43.9 NA NA 38.3 33.0 24.4 NA 39.1 14.7 48.1 27.7 25.7 17.1
1977 41.8 36.1 48.5 NA NA 41.4 36.5 27.7 NA 42.8 17.4 52.5 31.1 28.1 19.3
1978 45.2 38.8 51.7 NA NA 44.4 40.2 31.2 NA 45.9 20.1 56.8 34.1 31.1 22.5
1979 49.6 42.7 55.0 NA NA 47.2 45.0 35.4 NA 49.3 24.3 61.1 35.8 33.5 26.8
1980 55.6 47.6 58.5 NA NA 52.5 49.6 40.8 NA 53.6 28.5 64.4 39.0 37.3 32.3
1981 61.1 53.8 62.6 NA NA 57.3 54.6 47.2 NA 57.0 34.5 67.4 43.3 41.2 37.5
1982 67.0 61.0 65.7 NA NA 59.9 59.5 56.1 NA 60.4 40.5 71.5 48.2 44.2 41.3
1983 68.8 65.3 67.5 NA NA 65.7 63.6 61.9 NA 63.1 47.2 74.9 52.9 49.0 44.3
1984 71.2 69.0 69.5 NA NA 71.4 67.2 67.2 NA 66.0 54.1 77.7 57.9 53.2 47.8
1985 75.1 71.9 72.4 NA NA 75.3 71.7 72.8 NA 70.0 60.8 81.8 63.4 58.6 52.3
1986 78.5 73.0 76.0 NA NA 77.3 73.2 75.8 NA 72.8 63.3 85.0 69.1 63.4 57.0
1987 80.7 74.7 77.8 NA NA 79.7 80.1 78.6 NA 76.0 66.9 87.8 78.4 67.6 63.6
1988 84.0 77.5 79.1 NA NA 81.1 82.9 81.6 NA 79.1 69.3 87.7 83.3 71.8 68.0
1989 86.6 82.6 84.0 NA NA 85.9 87.7 86.0 NA 83.2 75.9 88.5 87.2 79.4 73.0
1990 90.8 88.3 90.5 NA NA 90.1 92.7 90.6 NA 89.4 84.4 90.8 92.3 87.8 81.6
1991 95.6 95.0 96.4 NA NA 97.3 95.9 96.2 92.2 95.1 93.7 95.2 97.5 95.5 92.0
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 102.7 102.0 102.8 NA NA 104.8 104.6 103.0 106.4 105.9 107.5 103.7 101.5 97.4 104.5
1994 105.6 103.7 104.9 NA NA 106.1 NA 105.6 112.0 111.7 107.8 108.2 104.4 100.0 107.2
1995 107.9 106.0 108.3 NA NA 109.2 NA 108.5 118.2 117.7 112.7 110.6 109.2 106.5 107.8
1996 109.4 107.0 109.2 NA NA 110.9 NA 110.3 123.8 123.7 120.3 113.2 113.6 114.4 108.9
1997 111.4 109.3 112.9 NA NA 114.7 NA 113.0 126.3 126.6 124.9 116.2 118.7 119.4 112.9
1998 117.4 111.6 115.8 NA NA 116.4 NA 115.6 127.5 127.6 123.4 119.8 126.1 124.4 118.9
1999 122.1 113.1 115.5 NA NA 116.8 NA 118.6 129.6 NA 127.5 123.5 133.4 127.5 124.5
2000 130.1 117.0 115.5 NA NA 119.8 NA 124.9 134.2 NA 131.2 NA 140.1 130.7 129.1
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 other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees,
but are labor cost to employers.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 26 -
Table 8. Hourly compensation in manufacturing, U.S. dollar basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada* Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France* Germany 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 9.5 1.1 NA NA NA 3.0 4.3 NA 1.9 2.4 2.1 2.9 3.3 3.5
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 4.7
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 5.1
1962 15.9 12.0 2.0 NA NA 4.0 4.9 5.6 NA 4.0 4.1 3.8 5.0 5.6 5.3
1963 16.4 12.4 2.2 NA NA 4.4 5.4 6.1 NA 4.3 4.9 4.2 5.3 6.2 5.5
1964 17.0 12.9 2.5 NA NA 5.0 5.8 6.7 NA 4.7 5.2 4.8 5.6 6.8 5.9
1965 17.4 13.7 2.8 NA NA 5.5 6.4 7.2 NA 5.1 5.6 5.4 6.2 7.5 6.5
1966 18.2 14.7 3.1 NA NA 6.1 7.3 7.6 NA 5.5 5.9 6.1 6.8 8.2 7.0
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 7.1
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 6.6
1969 22.2 17.9 4.9 NA NA 7.7 9.3 9.4 NA 7.0 7.6 8.5 9.3 10.8 7.2
1970 23.7 19.8 5.8 NA NA 8.9 10.7 9.9 NA 8.9 9.3 9.8 10.3 12.0 8.3
1971 25.2 21.7 6.9 NA NA 10.5 12.4 11.1 NA 10.4 10.9 11.6 11.9 13.8 9.7
1972 26.5 23.8 9.1 NA NA 13.7 14.7 13.4 NA 12.6 12.9 14.5 14.3 16.5 11.5
1973 28.5 25.6 12.5 NA NA 18.5 20.5 17.5 NA 17.1 15.2 20.0 18.5 20.3 12.8
1974 31.6 30.5 15.2 NA NA 22.6 24.6 19.2 NA 19.9 17.8 24.7 22.6 23.5 14.7
1975 35.5 33.7 17.4 NA NA 29.0 31.1 26.3 NA 23.1 22.4 30.1 28.6 30.8 18.5
1976 38.4 39.9 18.8 NA NA 31.9 32.9 27.0 NA 24.3 21.9 32.0 31.6 34.3 17.5
1977 41.8 41.1 22.9 NA NA 37.1 36.7 29.8 NA 28.8 24.3 37.6 36.3 36.7 19.1
1978 45.2 41.2 31.4 NA NA 45.4 44.1 36.7 NA 35.8 29.2 46.2 40.4 40.2 24.5
1979 49.6 44.0 32.0 NA NA 51.7 51.6 44.0 NA 42.0 36.1 53.5 43.9 45.6 32.2
1980 55.6 49.1 32.7 NA NA 57.7 53.2 51.1 NA 46.1 41.1 57.0 49.0 51.4 42.5
1981 61.1 54.2 36.0 NA NA 49.5 46.2 46.0 NA 39.3 37.3 47.4 46.9 47.4 43.0
1982 67.0 59.7 33.4 NA NA 42.1 43.0 45.1 NA 38.8 36.8 47.1 46.4 41.0 40.9
1983 68.8 64.0 36.0 NA NA 41.3 42.0 43.0 NA 38.6 38.2 46.1 45.0 37.2 38.0
1984 71.2 64.4 37.1 NA NA 39.7 39.2 40.7 NA 36.3 38.0 42.6 44.1 37.5 36.2
1985 75.1 63.6 38.5 NA NA 40.8 40.9 42.9 NA 37.2 39.2 43.3 45.8 39.7 38.4
1986 78.5 63.5 57.2 NA NA 55.6 54.6 57.9 NA 52.4 52.3 61.1 58.0 51.8 47.3
1987 80.7 68.1 68.2 NA NA 68.6 70.6 69.2 NA 66.0 63.5 76.2 72.3 62.1 59.0
1988 84.0 76.2 78.2 NA NA 70.9 74.3 72.5 NA 70.4 65.5 78.0 79.3 68.2 68.6
1989 86.6 84.3 77.1 NA NA 70.1 72.3 71.4 NA 69.1 68.2 73.4 78.4 71.6 67.7
1990 90.8 91.5 79.1 NA NA 86.6 90.4 88.0 NA 86.4 86.8 87.7 91.7 86.4 82.5
1991 95.6 100.1 90.8 NA NA 91.5 90.5 90.2 86.7 89.4 93.0 89.4 93.3 91.9 92.0
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 102.7 95.5 117.3 NA NA 97.4 97.4 96.2 100.4 100.0 84.2 98.1 88.8 72.8 88.9
1994 105.6 91.7 130.1 NA NA 102.1 NA 100.8 107.8 107.6 82.4 104.6 91.9 75.5 92.9
1995 107.9 93.3 146.2 NA NA 119.1 NA 115.1 128.9 128.3 85.2 121.2 107.1 86.9 96.4
1996 109.4 94.8 127.2 NA NA 115.1 NA 114.1 128.5 128.4 96.0 118.0 109.3 99.3 96.3
1997 111.4 95.3 118.3 NA NA 103.0 NA 102.5 113.7 114.0 90.3 104.6 104.1 91.0 104.7
1998 117.4 90.9 112.0 NA NA 103.0 NA 103.8 113.1 113.3 87.5 106.2 103.8 91.1 111.5
1999 122.1 92.0 128.8 NA NA 99.2 NA 102.0 110.3 NA 86.4 105.0 106.2 89.8 114.0
2000 130.1 95.2 135.9 NA NA 88.1 NA 93.0 99.0 NA 77.1 NA 98.8 83.0 110.7
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 other countries
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees
but are labor cost to employers.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 27 -
Table 9. Unit labor costs in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada* Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France* Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden* Kingdom*
1950 NA 20.5 NA NA NA NA 11.0 12.0 NA 25.5 7.0 27.7 8.9 9.5 6.4
1955 NA 23.7 36.4 NA NA NA 13.8 16.8 NA 25.4 7.1 31.6 11.7 13.8 8.4
1960 NA 25.9 31.3 NA NA 30.1 15.4 19.4 NA 27.8 7.5 34.6 12.8 15.0 9.9
1961 NA 25.2 32.1 NA NA 31.5 16.3 20.2 NA 29.7 7.7 37.4 13.5 15.6 10.6
1962 NA 24.4 34.9 NA NA 32.1 17.0 21.0 NA 31.5 8.2 38.5 14.9 16.2 10.9
1963 NA 24.4 36.1 NA NA 34.2 17.9 21.7 NA 32.2 9.4 40.7 15.1 16.9 10.8
1964 NA 24.4 35.8 NA NA 36.3 17.9 21.9 NA 32.1 10.0 43.2 15.2 16.9 10.8
1965 NA 24.6 38.7 NA NA 38.3 18.9 22.2 NA 33.3 9.6 45.4 15.9 17.4 11.5
1966 NA 26.0 38.9 NA NA 39.6 20.5 21.7 NA 34.7 9.4 47.7 16.7 18.2 12.0
1967 NA 27.1 38.5 NA NA 40.9 21.4 22.0 NA 34.5 9.9 49.2 18.0 18.7 11.9
1968 NA 27.4 40.0 NA NA 40.3 21.6 22.6 NA 34.3 9.8 48.8 18.7 18.5 11.8
1969 NA 28.2 41.4 NA NA 40.4 23.4 22.6 NA 35.0 10.3 50.4 18.8 18.8 12.6
1970 NA 30.5 43.8 8.3 23.3 41.7 25.2 24.0 NA 39.8 11.8 53.3 20.3 20.6 14.2
1971 NA 30.6 47.8 8.8 24.4 45.2 27.1 25.5 NA 42.9 13.4 57.6 22.5 22.2 15.4
1972 NA 31.2 50.1 9.7 24.4 47.9 27.8 26.9 NA 44.7 13.9 61.2 24.1 23.6 16.9
1973 NA 31.9 56.2 11.6 28.2 51.2 30.6 28.8 NA 47.5 15.1 65.8 25.5 24.8 18.0
1974 NA 36.5 71.8 14.2 42.7 59.9 35.9 33.5 NA 52.1 18.5 73.2 28.9 27.9 21.2
1975 NA 43.8 81.3 16.3 43.4 69.5 38.9 39.5 NA 55.2 24.2 84.9 34.8 33.7 28.9
1976 NA 46.4 82.6 20.7 44.6 73.1 41.8 42.6 NA 55.4 26.4 85.5 39.3 38.9 32.1
1977 61.2 48.9 87.6 24.4 46.4 75.3 45.4 45.7 NA 58.8 30.6 86.2 43.5 43.3 35.9
1978 65.3 51.6 89.8 29.3 46.5 76.1 49.3 49.4 NA 61.1 33.1 87.5 46.8 46.6 41.3
1979 70.7 56.7 88.4 35.9 52.8 76.8 52.5 53.4 NA 62.9 36.6 89.7 45.8 46.6 48.7
1980 78.8 63.9 92.5 45.1 61.1 80.3 55.0 61.3 NA 69.4 41.0 93.7 50.8 51.0 59.4
1981 82.4 69.0 96.0 52.1 70.9 81.7 59.5 68.9 NA 72.4 49.0 95.8 56.6 56.6 65.7
1982 87.9 78.9 96.7 55.6 75.5 81.5 64.6 76.5 NA 76.7 57.0 100.0 60.5 58.7 68.5
1983 86.0 79.4 98.0 59.6 73.9 81.1 65.8 82.5 NA 76.4 64.2 96.9 64.2 60.7 68.1
1984 85.6 76.5 97.7 61.9 76.8 84.0 69.9 88.2 NA 77.3 67.9 91.6 66.3 62.5 69.8
1985 87.3 78.0 94.6 62.1 80.0 86.5 74.2 92.0 NA 78.6 72.2 92.5 70.2 68.0 73.6
1986 91.2 81.5 99.9 62.1 82.1 88.0 80.4 94.3 NA 81.2 74.9 94.4 77.7 72.4 77.1
1987 86.9 82.8 97.0 66.9 82.1 89.7 88.4 96.1 NA 86.3 77.8 96.6 84.1 75.8 81.5
1988 86.7 85.5 94.3 76.1 84.4 88.1 88.2 93.3 NA 86.5 79.4 94.2 90.4 79.4 82.3
1989 90.5 88.6 94.9 81.5 88.3 88.7 88.1 93.5 NA 87.9 84.8 91.4 92.2 85.1 84.7
1990 93.7 93.3 95.9 85.9 95.1 93.0 93.6 96.8 NA 90.3 91.5 92.3 95.6 92.9 91.6
1991 97.6 99.5 97.4 95.0 96.4 98.1 96.3 99.3 93.1 93.3 98.2 95.6 100.0 100.0 98.1
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 100.6 97.2 101.1 103.8 100.9 102.3 100.1 102.4 104.5 105.3 104.3 102.1 100.9 90.8 100.6
1994 98.5 94.5 101.5 108.2 101.9 97.9 93.0 97.2 101.9 103.6 101.9 95.6 102.9 83.8 100.0
1995 94.8 95.2 97.6 120.4 102.1 96.4 93.8 94.6 104.7 105.9 103.0 93.7 107.0 87.4 102.9
1996 93.5 97.2 94.0 126.5 101.6 94.7 100.9 95.7 107.4 107.5 110.0 94.2 111.4 91.9 105.3
1997 91.9 96.5 93.3 116.1 100.0 90.5 96.9 91.3 104.4 103.9 111.9 95.1 115.2 90.2 107.6
1998 92.7 98.6 95.5 113.6 101.4 90.3 98.7 89.3 105.3 100.4 111.1 95.9 121.7 89.2 111.8
1999 90.4 98.4 91.8 99.2 98.9 90.6 101.9 89.3 105.9 NA 114.0 96.7 129.5 88.8 112.4
2000 89.9 100.6 87.1 96.6 96.6 90.2 99.0 88.9 103.4 NA 113.4 NA 134.5 86.9 110.9
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 other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees,
but are labor cost to employers.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 28 -
Table 10. Unit labor costs in manufacturing, U.S. dollar basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada* Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France* Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden* Kingdom*
1950 NA 22.7 NA NA NA NA 9.6 18.1 NA 9.5 13.8 12.8 7.8 10.7 10.1
1955 NA 29.1 12.8 NA NA NA 12.0 25.3 NA 9.4 14.1 14.6 10.2 15.5 13.3
1960 NA 32.2 11.0 NA NA 19.4 13.5 20.9 NA 10.4 14.9 16.1 11.2 16.9 15.8
1961 NA 30.1 11.3 NA NA 20.3 14.3 21.8 NA 11.6 15.3 18.1 11.8 17.6 16.8
1962 NA 27.6 12.3 NA NA 20.7 14.9 22.7 NA 12.3 16.2 18.8 12.9 18.3 17.3
1963 NA 27.3 12.7 NA NA 22.0 15.7 23.4 NA 12.6 18.7 19.9 13.1 18.9 17.1
1964 NA 27.3 12.5 NA NA 23.5 15.6 23.6 NA 12.6 19.7 21.1 13.2 19.1 17.1
1965 NA 27.6 13.6 NA NA 24.8 16.5 24.0 NA 13.0 18.9 22.2 13.8 19.6 18.2
1966 NA 29.1 13.6 NA NA 25.6 17.9 23.4 NA 13.6 18.5 23.2 14.5 20.6 19.0
1967 NA 30.3 13.5 NA NA 26.5 18.5 23.7 NA 13.5 19.5 24.0 15.6 21.1 18.5
1968 NA 30.7 14.1 NA NA 25.9 17.4 24.1 NA 13.4 19.3 23.7 16.2 20.9 16.0
1969 NA 31.7 14.6 NA NA 25.9 18.8 23.1 NA 13.9 20.3 24.4 16.4 21.1 17.1
1970 NA 35.3 15.5 21.0 14.7 27.0 20.3 23.0 NA 17.1 23.2 25.9 17.6 23.1 19.3
1971 NA 36.6 17.4 19.9 15.3 29.9 22.1 24.5 NA 19.3 26.8 29.0 19.9 25.3 21.4
1972 NA 38.1 21.0 19.5 15.4 35.0 24.1 28.2 NA 21.9 29.3 33.5 22.7 28.9 23.9
1973 NA 38.6 26.3 22.8 18.6 42.4 30.7 34.3 NA 28.0 31.9 41.6 27.6 33.1 24.9
1974 NA 45.1 31.2 27.6 28.3 49.5 35.6 36.9 NA 31.5 35.1 48.0 32.5 36.7 28.1
1975 NA 52.0 34.8 26.4 28.7 60.9 40.9 48.8 NA 35.1 45.6 59.2 41.5 47.4 36.3
1976 NA 56.9 35.3 33.6 29.6 60.9 41.8 47.3 NA 34.4 39.1 56.9 44.8 52.0 32.8
1977 61.2 55.6 41.5 39.5 30.8 67.6 45.7 49.3 NA 39.6 42.7 61.8 50.8 56.4 35.5
1978 65.3 54.7 54.6 47.5 31.6 77.8 54.1 58.0 NA 47.6 48.0 71.2 55.5 60.1 44.8
1979 70.7 58.5 51.3 58.2 36.9 84.2 60.3 66.5 NA 53.6 54.2 78.6 56.2 63.3 58.5
1980 78.8 66.1 51.8 58.3 42.7 88.3 58.9 76.7 NA 59.6 59.0 82.9 63.9 70.2 78.3
1981 82.4 69.6 55.2 60.0 48.4 70.6 50.4 67.1 NA 49.9 53.1 67.4 61.3 65.1 75.2
1982 87.9 77.2 49.2 59.6 48.5 57.2 46.7 61.5 NA 49.3 51.9 65.8 58.2 54.4 67.8
1983 86.0 77.9 52.3 60.3 46.4 51.0 43.4 57.3 NA 46.7 52.1 59.7 54.7 46.1 58.4
1984 85.6 71.4 52.2 60.1 48.8 46.8 40.8 53.4 NA 42.4 47.7 50.2 50.5 44.0 52.8
1985 87.3 69.0 50.3 56.5 50.4 46.9 42.3 54.2 NA 41.7 46.6 49.0 50.8 46.1 54.1
1986 91.2 70.9 75.2 55.1 54.6 63.4 60.0 72.0 NA 58.5 61.9 67.8 65.3 59.2 64.0
1987 86.9 75.4 85.0 63.5 65.1 77.2 77.9 84.6 NA 74.9 73.9 83.8 77.5 69.6 75.6
1988 86.7 84.0 93.2 81.3 74.2 77.0 79.0 82.8 NA 76.9 75.2 83.8 86.1 75.4 83.0
1989 90.5 90.4 87.1 94.8 84.1 72.3 72.6 77.6 NA 73.0 76.1 75.8 82.9 76.8 78.5
1990 93.7 96.6 83.8 94.9 88.9 89.5 91.3 94.0 NA 87.3 94.1 89.1 95.0 91.3 92.5
1991 97.6 104.9 91.7 101.1 90.6 92.3 90.8 93.1 87.6 87.8 97.5 89.9 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 91.0 115.4 101.1 96.1 95.1 93.2 95.6 98.6 99.4 81.6 96.6 88.3 67.8 85.5
1994 98.5 83.6 125.9 105.2 96.9 94.2 88.3 92.8 98.2 99.8 77.9 92.4 90.7 63.2 86.8
1995 94.8 83.8 131.7 122.3 96.9 105.2 101.1 100.4 114.2 115.5 77.9 102.7 105.0 71.3 91.9
1996 93.5 86.1 109.6 123.3 93.0 98.3 105.0 99.0 111.5 111.6 87.9 98.3 107.1 79.8 93.0
1997 91.9 84.2 97.7 95.8 87.4 81.2 88.6 82.8 94.0 93.5 80.9 85.6 101.0 68.8 99.8
1998 92.7 80.4 92.4 63.7 76.0 80.0 88.9 80.1 93.5 89.1 78.8 85.0 100.2 65.3 104.9
1999 90.4 80.0 102.4 65.4 76.9 76.9 88.0 76.8 90.1 NA 77.3 82.2 103.1 62.5 102.9
2000 89.9 81.8 102.5 67.0 77.7 66.4 73.8 66.2 76.2 NA 66.6 NA 94.8 55.2 95.2
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.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 29 -
Table 11. Exchange rates, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000 (Value of foreign currency relative to U.S. dollar)
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany 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
2000 100.0 81.4 117.6 69.4 80.5 73.6 74.6 74.5 73.7 NA 58.7 73.7 70.5 63.5 85.8
NA: Not Available
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 30 -
Table 12. Annual compensation per employed person in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada* Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France* Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden* Kingdom*
1950 8.8 5.9 NA NA NA NA 3.5 1.9 NA 4.9 0.9 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 3.8 2.8
1960 14.8 10.4 5.3 NA NA 6.8 6.0 5.1 NA 10.7 1.8 8.4 6.0 5.0 3.6
1961 15.2 10.6 6.1 NA NA 7.2 6.6 5.7 NA 11.8 2.0 9.2 6.4 5.4 3.8
1962 16.0 11.1 6.9 NA NA 7.8 7.2 6.3 NA 13.0 2.3 9.8 7.0 6.0 4.0
1963 16.5 11.6 7.6 NA NA 8.6 7.8 6.9 NA 13.7 2.7 10.7 7.5 6.6 4.2
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 4.5
1965 17.9 12.8 9.4 NA NA 10.5 9.4 8.0 NA 16.2 3.0 13.8 8.7 7.7 4.8
1966 18.8 13.7 10.4 NA NA 11.5 10.4 8.5 NA 17.4 3.2 15.3 9.5 8.5 5.1
1967 19.4 14.4 11.7 NA NA 12.4 11.6 9.0 NA 17.8 3.6 16.9 10.5 9.2 5.2
1968 20.9 15.4 13.6 NA NA 13.3 12.5 10.0 NA 19.4 3.9 18.5 11.3 9.8 5.7
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 6.2
1970 23.3 17.6 18.7 NA NA 16.0 15.3 12.1 NA 24.8 5.0 23.5 13.5 11.8 7.0
1971 24.8 18.7 21.2 NA NA 18.2 17.5 13.5 NA 27.2 5.6 26.6 15.3 13.3 7.8
1972 26.5 20.1 24.3 NA NA 21.0 19.0 14.7 NA 29.8 6.3 30.1 16.8 14.4 9.0
1973 28.5 21.7 29.4 NA NA 24.3 21.8 16.6 NA 33.4 7.5 35.2 18.9 16.0 10.3
1974 31.0 25.0 37.0 NA NA 29.2 26.9 19.5 NA 37.2 9.4 40.7 21.8 18.6 12.0
1975 34.3 28.4 42.1 NA NA 33.3 31.1 23.0 NA 40.0 11.7 45.7 25.9 22.3 15.9
1976 37.6 32.7 46.7 NA NA 39.3 34.8 26.5 NA 44.3 14.5 50.9 29.2 25.8 18.6
1977 41.0 36.2 51.6 NA NA 42.3 38.2 29.8 NA 47.7 17.1 55.3 32.2 28.1 21.2
1978 44.3 39.2 55.2 NA NA 45.2 41.6 33.4 NA 50.6 19.6 59.2 34.6 30.3 24.6
1979 48.4 42.9 59.2 NA NA 48.1 46.5 37.7 NA 54.1 23.6 62.9 35.7 32.1 29.1
1980 53.5 47.3 62.9 NA NA 52.7 51.6 43.5 NA 57.9 27.8 66.7 39.1 35.3 34.1
1981 58.8 53.1 66.9 NA NA 56.1 56.1 49.7 NA 60.9 33.5 70.2 43.6 39.2 38.9
1982 63.3 59.7 70.0 NA NA 60.0 62.0 56.6 NA 64.1 39.3 75.3 48.1 42.3 43.1
1983 66.9 64.7 71.9 NA NA 64.2 67.2 62.3 NA 67.2 45.8 78.9 53.0 47.5 46.1
1984 70.2 68.3 74.9 NA NA 69.3 70.8 67.7 NA 70.3 52.5 80.7 57.9 52.5 49.9
1985 74.1 71.6 77.7 NA NA 74.1 73.0 72.8 NA 73.1 58.5 82.9 63.1 57.4 54.3
1986 77.4 73.0 81.1 NA NA 76.2 76.3 76.0 NA 75.6 62.5 85.7 68.9 61.8 58.9
1987 80.0 75.4 83.4 NA NA 79.2 81.5 79.3 NA 78.8 67.2 88.1 76.3 66.8 65.9
1988 84.0 79.9 85.7 NA NA 81.9 84.4 82.6 NA 81.7 72.0 88.6 81.6 70.7 70.6
1989 86.7 83.2 89.9 NA NA 86.4 88.2 86.9 NA 84.6 78.8 89.0 86.0 77.9 75.3
1990 90.2 88.5 95.5 NA NA 91.7 92.1 91.0 NA 89.2 85.4 91.2 90.9 87.2 83.5
1991 94.3 94.8 99.5 NA NA 97.3 95.6 95.7 88.2 94.3 93.8 95.4 96.4 94.7 92.1
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 104.1 103.0 100.6 NA NA 103.2 103.8 102.9 103.9 102.8 105.4 103.7 101.8 99.9 105.5
1994 108.0 105.8 102.9 NA NA 107.4 106.0 105.5 109.9 108.5 108.6 108.2 104.9 106.6 109.5
1995 109.5 107.6 107.1 NA NA 109.2 109.7 107.7 115.8 113.6 113.7 110.9 108.8 114.6 112.2
1996 111.0 109.5 108.5 NA NA 111.5 112.6 109.6 118.6 117.6 120.3 113.4 112.6 123.4 113.8
1997 113.9 111.7 111.6 NA NA 115.4 117.7 112.0 121.0 120.5 125.4 115.9 117.4 128.9 117.2
1998 118.8 114.4 112.0 NA NA 117.3 121.3 114.4 123.4 122.8 123.7 119.3 124.9 134.6 122.6
1999 124.5 117.0 111.6 NA NA 120.2 126.9 116.7 125.0 NA 127.3 123.0 132.1 138.2 127.8
2000 132.2 121.0 114.1 NA NA 121.8 132.1 118.6 128.1 NA 130.7 NA 137.2 142.1 133.1
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.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 31 -
Table 13. Real hourly compensation in manufacturing, CPI basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 46.8 37.0 NA NA NA NA 28.6 19.8 NA 11.7 17.2 17.1 26.3 25.3 25.9
1955 56.5 46.5 18.2 NA NA NA 31.9 26.7 NA 15.9 20.1 21.2 29.5 30.5 28.2
1960 65.2 54.6 23.1 NA NA 24.5 38.7 30.1 NA 23.6 24.1 26.4 36.4 35.4 33.1
1961 66.4 55.5 25.5 NA NA 25.7 41.7 32.2 NA 25.8 26.1 29.8 38.7 37.9 34.3
1962 68.3 56.9 27.3 NA NA 27.2 42.5 34.1 NA 28.4 29.4 31.1 40.4 40.4 34.5
1963 69.4 58.3 28.4 NA NA 29.4 43.9 35.4 NA 29.4 32.4 33.1 42.0 43.4 35.4
1964 71.4 59.6 30.7 NA NA 31.9 45.7 37.2 NA 31.1 32.7 36.3 42.5 45.7 36.6
1965 71.8 61.7 32.1 NA NA 34.0 47.7 39.4 NA 33.1 33.5 39.1 45.0 48.1 38.2
1966 73.0 63.8 33.7 NA NA 36.0 50.8 40.6 NA 34.7 34.8 41.4 47.7 49.5 39.7
1967 74.6 64.9 36.3 NA NA 38.3 53.0 42.6 NA 36.1 37.0 44.3 51.0 52.6 40.7
1968 77.1 66.6 40.1 NA NA 39.8 54.0 46.4 NA 38.3 39.0 47.6 54.3 56.0 41.8
1969 78.4 68.9 45.2 NA NA 42.0 58.7 47.6 NA 41.1 41.7 50.2 58.1 58.9 43.1
1970 79.4 71.5 49.9 NA NA 46.1 62.9 50.9 NA 46.7 48.3 56.0 58.3 61.8 46.5
1971 80.7 73.9 54.3 NA NA 51.0 68.3 54.2 NA 49.8 53.2 59.5 62.9 64.1 48.4
1972 82.2 75.7 59.6 NA NA 57.2 71.0 56.3 NA 52.3 56.4 63.3 65.8 67.5 52.1
1973 83.4 76.6 65.2 NA NA 63.5 78.8 60.0 NA 55.4 59.9 69.7 69.0 69.8 54.3
1974 83.4 80.2 69.4 NA NA 69.3 82.8 62.8 NA 58.9 65.7 75.9 74.0 74.8 56.2
1975 85.6 83.2 72.3 NA NA 74.3 90.0 68.4 NA 61.3 70.9 79.0 79.1 83.6 60.4
1976 87.7 88.8 71.2 NA NA 78.8 92.1 71.5 NA 63.1 75.4 80.9 83.9 88.4 60.1
1977 89.6 91.2 72.6 NA NA 79.4 91.8 74.2 NA 66.7 76.3 82.8 86.3 86.1 58.5
1978 90.5 89.9 74.3 NA NA 81.5 91.9 76.6 NA 69.9 78.3 86.0 87.4 88.9 62.7
1979 90.9 90.6 76.2 NA NA 82.9 93.7 78.4 NA 72.2 82.7 88.6 87.6 89.9 65.6
1980 91.6 91.6 75.2 NA NA 86.5 92.1 79.6 NA 74.6 80.0 87.4 86.0 87.7 67.2
1981 92.1 92.0 76.8 NA NA 87.7 90.7 81.3 NA 74.6 82.0 85.7 84.1 86.3 70.0
1982 95.4 94.1 78.4 NA NA 84.4 89.7 86.3 NA 75.0 82.7 86.1 84.1 85.1 70.5
1983 94.1 95.2 79.0 NA NA 86.0 89.7 87.0 NA 76.0 84.1 87.7 85.1 84.5 72.4
1984 93.6 96.4 79.6 NA NA 87.8 89.2 87.8 NA 77.7 87.0 88.1 87.7 85.2 74.3
1985 95.5 96.6 81.2 NA NA 88.3 90.9 89.7 NA 80.7 89.6 90.7 90.8 87.4 76.6
1986 98.1 94.1 84.8 NA NA 89.6 89.6 91.0 NA 84.1 88.1 94.2 92.4 90.4 80.7
1987 97.5 92.3 86.7 NA NA 90.9 94.1 91.6 NA 87.7 88.8 97.6 96.4 92.4 86.5
1988 97.9 92.1 87.5 NA NA 91.4 93.2 92.7 NA 90.3 87.6 96.6 96.0 94.1 88.1
1989 96.8 93.4 90.9 NA NA 94.0 94.1 94.2 NA 92.3 90.4 96.6 96.1 98.3 87.7
1990 96.6 94.7 95.0 NA NA 95.2 96.9 96.0 NA 96.6 94.3 96.6 97.7 97.6 89.7
1991 98.1 96.3 98.0 NA NA 99.7 98.0 98.8 96.9 99.1 98.5 98.2 99.8 97.3 95.4
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 100.2 100.2 101.4 NA NA 102.0 103.3 100.9 101.9 102.1 102.9 101.0 99.2 95.3 102.9
1994 100.8 101.6 102.8 NA NA 100.9 NA 101.7 104.3 104.8 99.2 102.6 100.6 95.8 103.0
1995 100.4 101.7 106.3 NA NA 102.3 NA 102.7 108.2 108.7 98.6 102.9 102.7 97.6 100.2
1996 99.1 101.1 107.0 NA NA 101.8 NA 102.4 111.9 112.8 101.1 103.2 105.6 103.6 98.8
1997 98.8 101.6 108.7 NA NA 103.6 NA 103.7 112.1 113.3 102.9 103.7 107.5 106.9 99.3
1998 102.7 102.8 110.8 NA NA 104.1 NA 105.4 112.0 113.3 99.8 104.8 111.7 110.6 101.1
1999 104.6 102.4 110.9 NA NA 103.3 NA 107.6 113.2 NA 101.4 105.7 115.6 109.4 104.2
2000 107.8 103.1 111.7 NA NA 103.3 NA 111.3 115.0 NA 101.8 NA 117.7 115.8 105.0
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.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 32 -
Table 14. Real annual compensation per employed person in manufacturing, CPI basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France Germany Germany** Italy lands Norway Sweden Kingdom
1950 47.4 40.3 NA NA NA NA 40.2 23.9 NA 17.2 19.0 22.3 34.5 32.8 31.7
1955 57.4 48.7 21.7 NA NA NA 44.0 32.1 NA 23.3 22.7 27.7 38.7 39.4 35.1
1960 64.9 56.8 28.6 NA NA 30.8 50.8 36.4 NA 31.0 27.5 34.8 45.9 43.2 40.4
1961 66.2 57.5 31.2 NA NA 32.2 53.1 39.1 NA 33.4 29.5 37.7 48.1 45.9 41.2
1962 68.7 59.4 32.6 NA NA 34.2 54.5 41.2 NA 35.8 32.2 39.0 50.0 48.5 41.1
1963 70.1 61.0 33.6 NA NA 37.0 55.4 42.9 NA 36.5 35.7 41.5 51.8 51.5 42.1
1964 72.5 62.7 36.2 NA NA 39.9 58.3 44.8 NA 38.7 35.9 45.0 52.7 53.7 43.8
1965 73.7 64.9 37.2 NA NA 41.9 60.7 47.1 NA 41.0 35.6 48.3 54.5 56.0 45.1
1966 75.2 66.6 39.3 NA NA 44.0 63.4 48.8 NA 42.4 37.4 50.9 57.9 57.6 46.1
1967 75.5 67.8 42.3 NA NA 46.2 65.4 50.6 NA 42.9 40.4 54.3 61.3 60.3 46.9
1968 77.9 69.4 46.6 NA NA 48.1 65.1 53.6 NA 46.1 42.5 57.2 63.7 62.9 48.6
1969 78.6 71.5 51.8 NA NA 50.2 69.9 56.3 NA 49.5 45.2 59.6 66.6 64.9 50.0
1970 78.0 73.7 56.7 NA NA 53.6 72.5 59.6 NA 56.0 51.4 65.2 66.4 68.0 53.2
1971 79.4 76.0 60.7 NA NA 58.5 78.5 62.9 NA 58.4 55.1 68.6 70.9 70.3 54.0
1972 82.3 77.9 66.2 NA NA 64.1 79.8 64.7 NA 60.7 58.0 72.0 73.0 72.1 57.6
1973 83.3 78.3 71.8 NA NA 69.4 83.9 67.9 NA 63.8 62.2 77.7 76.1 73.2 60.8
1974 81.7 81.4 73.3 NA NA 73.8 89.8 70.1 NA 66.5 65.9 81.9 80.5 77.6 61.0
1975 82.7 83.4 74.6 NA NA 74.8 94.6 74.1 NA 67.4 69.9 83.7 85.6 85.1 65.2
1976 85.7 89.1 75.6 NA NA 80.8 97.2 77.7 NA 71.5 74.3 85.6 88.4 89.0 65.5
1977 87.9 91.4 77.4 NA NA 81.1 96.0 80.0 NA 74.3 74.8 87.3 89.4 86.0 64.1
1978 88.8 90.8 79.4 NA NA 83.1 95.0 81.8 NA 76.9 76.6 89.7 88.8 86.5 68.5
1979 88.6 91.1 82.0 NA NA 84.6 96.8 83.6 NA 79.2 80.2 91.4 87.5 86.1 71.3
1980 88.3 91.2 80.9 NA NA 86.9 95.7 84.9 NA 80.7 77.9 90.6 86.3 83.1 71.0
1981 88.7 90.8 82.0 NA NA 86.0 93.2 85.6 NA 79.7 79.8 89.3 84.6 82.2 72.7
1982 90.2 92.0 83.5 NA NA 84.5 93.5 87.2 NA 79.7 80.2 90.6 83.8 81.4 73.6
1983 91.4 94.3 84.3 NA NA 84.0 94.7 87.4 NA 80.9 81.6 92.4 85.2 81.8 75.4
1984 92.3 95.4 85.8 NA NA 85.3 93.9 88.5 NA 82.7 84.5 91.6 87.7 84.0 77.5
1985 94.2 96.2 87.2 NA NA 87.0 92.5 89.8 NA 84.3 86.2 91.9 90.4 85.5 79.6
1986 96.7 94.2 90.5 NA NA 88.3 93.3 91.3 NA 87.3 86.9 95.0 92.1 88.1 83.4
1987 96.7 93.2 92.9 NA NA 90.4 95.8 92.4 NA 90.9 89.2 98.0 93.7 91.2 89.6
1988 97.9 94.9 94.8 NA NA 92.4 94.9 93.8 NA 93.2 91.1 97.7 94.1 92.7 91.4
1989 96.9 94.1 97.4 NA NA 94.5 94.6 95.2 NA 93.9 93.7 97.1 94.7 96.5 90.6
1990 96.0 94.9 100.3 NA NA 96.9 96.3 96.5 NA 96.4 95.5 97.0 96.2 96.9 91.7
1991 96.8 96.1 101.2 NA NA 99.7 97.6 98.3 92.7 98.2 98.6 98.4 98.7 96.6 95.5
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 101.5 101.2 99.3 NA NA 100.5 102.5 100.8 99.4 99.1 100.8 101.0 99.5 97.7 103.9
1994 103.0 103.6 100.9 NA NA 102.1 102.6 101.7 102.4 101.7 99.9 102.6 101.2 102.1 105.3
1995 101.9 103.3 105.1 NA NA 102.3 104.0 102.0 106.1 104.9 99.4 103.2 102.4 105.0 104.2
1996 100.5 103.4 106.4 NA NA 102.3 104.6 101.8 107.2 107.2 101.2 103.4 104.6 111.8 103.2
1997 101.0 103.8 107.5 NA NA 104.2 107.0 102.8 107.3 107.9 103.4 103.5 106.3 115.5 103.1
1998 103.9 105.4 107.2 NA NA 104.9 108.2 104.2 108.4 109.0 100.0 104.4 110.7 119.7 104.2
1999 106.6 105.9 107.1 NA NA 106.4 110.6 105.8 109.1 NA 101.2 105.3 114.4 118.7 107.0
2000 109.6 106.7 110.3 NA NA 105.1 111.7 105.8 109.8 NA 101.4 NA 115.2 125.9 108.2
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.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.
- 33 -
Table 15. Total labor compensation in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2000
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada* Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France* Germany 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 3.2
1955 11.0 6.9 1.8 NA NA NA 4.1 3.8 NA 7.0 1.1 7.2 5.5 4.9 4.9
1960 13.7 8.8 3.4 NA NA 9.2 6.3 6.0 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 6.7 NA 13.1 2.0 12.2 8.0 7.7 7.2
1962 14.8 9.6 4.9 NA NA 11.1 7.9 7.5 NA 14.5 2.3 13.2 8.9 8.5 7.4
1963 15.4 10.2 5.6 NA NA 12.4 8.5 8.3 NA 15.2 2.8 14.5 9.6 9.3 7.6
1964 16.4 11.2 6.5 NA NA 14.3 9.5 9.2 NA 16.4 3.0 16.9 10.4 10.2 8.3
1965 17.8 12.4 7.3 NA NA 15.6 10.7 9.8 NA 18.3 3.1 19.0 11.4 11.2 9.0
1966 19.8 14.0 8.3 NA NA 17.1 11.8 10.5 NA 19.4 3.3 21.0 12.6 12.1 9.6
1967 20.7 14.9 9.8 NA NA 17.9 12.5 11.1 NA 18.9 3.8 22.5 14.0 12.8 9.6
1968 22.6 15.9 11.8 NA NA 18.8 13.5 12.0 NA 20.7 4.1 24.4 14.9 13.4 10.2
1969 24.6 17.5 14.2 NA NA 21.1 15.4 13.5 NA 23.6 4.6 27.7 16.2 14.6 11.3
1970 24.8 18.3 17.1 .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 19.5 19.6 .7 3.8 27.2 18.8 17.3 NA 30.7 6.5 35.2 20.8 18.0 13.8
1972 27.8 21.6 22.4 .9 4.6 31.0 20.9 19.2 NA 33.0 7.1 38.4 23.2 19.3 15.4
1973 31.5 24.4 28.3 1.4 6.3 36.1 24.3 22.1 NA 37.3 8.8 44.2 26.1 21.7 17.9
1974 34.2 28.5 35.3 2.0 9.0 43.9 28.9 26.2 NA 40.5 11.4 51.0 30.5 25.7 20.9
1975 34.5 31.5 37.9 2.6 9.5 47.2 30.6 30.2 NA 40.9 14.1 55.3 35.9 31.2 26.4
1976 39.2 36.1 41.8 4.1 12.1 53.4 34.5 34.6 NA 44.2 17.7 59.1 40.4 36.0 29.9
1977 44.4 39.3 45.7 5.6 14.2 55.2 37.7 38.8 NA 47.8 21.2 62.5 44.7 37.7 34.2
1978 50.0 43.8 48.2 8.1 17.3 56.5 40.8 42.8 NA 50.6 24.0 65.5 47.1 39.6 39.5
1979 55.9 49.6 51.6 10.8 21.2 58.6 45.9 47.7 NA 54.8 29.4 68.8 48.0 42.1 46.5
1980 59.7 54.5 55.9 13.5 26.9 62.8 50.2 54.3 NA 59.2 34.6 72.0 52.6 46.3 51.8
1981 65.3 60.9 60.1 17.0 33.6 63.1 52.6 60.1 NA 61.0 40.1 73.8 57.6 49.8 53.7
1982 65.6 62.2 62.5 19.2 36.6 65.5 58.0 67.4 NA 62.5 45.7 76.1 61.3 51.8 56.0
1983 68.1 65.7 65.3 23.6 40.0 68.6 63.1 72.7 NA 63.2 51.1 76.1 64.1 56.9 56.9
1984 75.0 71.3 69.4 28.5 47.8 73.2 70.2 76.7 NA 65.9 55.8 76.1 69.4 63.2 60.4
1985 78.5 76.5 72.6 30.3 51.4 77.1 76.8 80.3 NA 69.4 61.3 79.0 76.2 70.0 65.5
1986 80.8 80.6 75.4 35.9 61.4 78.5 83.2 82.3 NA 72.9 64.7 82.7 84.0 75.4 69.5
1987 83.8 85.7 76.6 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 94.0 80.4 58.4 74.0 82.3 88.9 86.0 NA 78.6 75.5 86.8 95.2 87.2 83.5
1989 92.8 99.3 86.3 64.7 80.2 87.9 91.8 90.9 NA 82.6 83.3 88.3 93.4 94.5 89.3
1990 95.1 100.2 93.1 74.5 85.6 94.0 96.1 95.9 NA 89.5 90.9 92.2 95.7 102.3 96.4
1991 96.0 98.6 99.4 90.2 92.6 98.8 98.0 99.2 95.2 96.0 97.6 96.1 98.3 104.1 98.1
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 104.2 102.1 97.4 109.4 103.4 99.2 99.1 97.9 96.6 96.6 100.6 100.5 103.6 92.5 102.0
1994 109.4 106.8 96.3 126.4 110.6 99.3 101.6 97.5 97.0 96.8 104.3 100.0 109.9 98.1 106.2
1995 112.2 112.8 96.5 156.5 117.2 100.4 107.6 99.2 99.8 99.2 110.5 101.3 116.6 112.2 110.9
1996 113.4 116.7 96.9 175.5 122.2 101.0 110.7 100.0 99.5 99.4 116.0 102.5 122.6 120.4 113.9
1997 117.5 122.9 99.4 171.6 128.3 102.9 114.8 100.2 99.9 99.5 121.7 106.0 133.3 124.5 117.9
1998 123.5 130.7 95.7 155.5 134.5 105.1 119.2 102.7 102.3 101.2 122.7 110.4 143.3 131.6 123.2
1999 127.4 138.6 92.8 164.3 139.9 106.6 122.2 104.7 103.2 NA 125.7 114.8 147.5 136.5 123.7
2000 134.5 149.7 93.2 184.6 146.8 110.0 126.2 107.7 106.5 NA 129.2 NA 149.1 142.0 124.1
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.
** See note on Germany in box on page 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2001.