Full text of 2002 : Text File, USDL 03-469
The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
Internet address: http://www.bls.gov USDL 03-469
Technical information: (202) 691-5654 For Release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Tuesday, September 9, 2003
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY
AND UNIT LABOR COST TRENDS, 2002
In 2002, the increase in manufacturing productivity in the United
States, at 6.4 percent, was the fourth largest among 13 economies
compared by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor
Statistics. (See chart 1.) Korea and Sweden recorded the highest
productivity gains, while the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
recorded the smallest gains. Of the 13 economies, Italy posted the
only productivity decline in manufacturing.
The United States posted its highest annual growth rate in output
per hour in 15 years. In 6 of the 13 economies, productivity
increases in 2002 were close to or somewhat higher than the average
growth rates of the second half of the 1990's, after slowing down in
2001. (Average annual growth rates for selected measures are found
in tables A and B. The complete historical index series are shown in
tables 1 through 15.)
PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT
Chart 1. Percent change in manufacturing output per hour, 2002
-2-
Unit labor costs in manufacturing, expressed in national currency
units, which are available for 14 economies, increased in 9 in 2002.
As in 2001, Korea recorded the largest increase in 2002 (5.4
percent), while Japan and Taiwan recorded the largest declines, 6.4
and 6.3 percent, respectively. Unit labor costs decreased as well in
the United States (1.3 percent), Sweden (3.6 percent), and Germany
(0.1 percent).
Fluctuations in exchange rates must be taken into account in order
to assess international competitiveness in manufacturing. The
depreciation of the U.S. dollar against most currencies in 2002
increased unit labor costs, expressed in U.S. dollars, in Korea and
all nine European countries compared. (See chart 2 and table A.)
PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT
Chart 2. Percent change in manufacturing unit labor costs, 2001-
2002
-3-
Table A. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 2001-2002
Percent change
Output Total Hourly Unit labor costs
Country per Employ- Average compen- compen- National U.S. Exchange
or area hour Output Hours ment hours sation sation currency dollars rate (1)
United States 6.4 - 1.1 - 7.0 - 6.8 - 0.3 - 2.4 5.0 - 1.3 - 1.3 --
Canada 1.5 2.6 1.1 0.7 0.4 5.7 4.6 3.1 1.6 - 1.4
Japan 5.2 - 1.5 - 6.4 - 6.4 0.0 - 7.9 - 1.6 - 6.4 - 9.2 - 2.9
Korea 7.2 6.3 - 0.8 - 0.2 - 0.7 12.0 13.0 5.4 8.9 3.3
Taiwan 6.7 6.6 - 0.1 - 1.8 1.7 - 0.2 - 0.1 - 6.3 - 8.3 - 2.1
Belgium 6.3 0.5 - 5.5 - 3.1 - 2.4 0.7 6.5 0.2 5.8 5.6
Denmark NA 0.4 NA - 3.8 NA 0.8 NA 0.4 6.1 5.7
France 2.7 0.1 - 2.6 - 1.7 - 0.9 0.5 3.2 0.4 6.1 5.6
Germany 2.3 - 0.3 - 2.6 - 2.1 - 0.6 - 0.4 2.2 - 0.1 5.5 5.6
Italy - 1.4 - 0.7 0.7 1.0 - 0.2 3.2 2.5 4.0 9.8 5.6
Netherlands 0.5 - 1.6 - 2.2 - 2.2 0.0 2.8 5.1 4.5 10.4 5.6
Norway 1.8 - 0.6 - 2.4 - 1.1 - 1.3 3.5 6.0 4.2 17.4 12.7
Sweden 7.6 2.9 - 4.4 - 2.8 - 1.6 - 0.8 3.7 - 3.6 2.5 6.4
United Kingdom 0.4 - 4.0 - 4.4 - 5.1 0.7 - 1.2 3.3 2.9 7.4 4.4
(1) Value of foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar.
NA=Not Available
Table A summarizes changes in manufacturing productivity, unit
labor costs, and related variables between 2001 and 2002. Output and
unit labor cost data are presented for 14 economies. Comparable
productivity data are not available for Denmark. (See technical
notes.)
This release examines comparative trends in manufacturing output
per hour, unit labor costs, and related measures in 2002, the most
recent year for which comparative data are available, and for certain
selected time periods. Annual indexes of these variables also are
estimated for the time period 1950-2002. Because the value added
output data for U.S. manufacturing industries are not available prior
to 1977, the comparative measures of output, output per hour, and
unit labor costs for the United States in this report begin with
1977.
Table B (pages 8-12) shows average annual percent changes for
selected periods, beginning in 1979. Annual indexes of the data are
in tables 1-15 (pages 19-33).
Historical series are available also at the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Division of Foreign Labor Statistics, website at address
http://www.bls.gov/fls/home.htm.
-4-
BOX: Notes about the measures
The measures in this release are based on data available to BLS as of
August 2003. Revisions for 2001 and earlier years were made to the
measures for several countries to incorporate data not available at
the time of the February 2003 report.
U.S. manufacturing output measure
The output measure for manufacturing in the United States is the
chain-weighted index of real gross domestic product by industry
(deflated value added), published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis
(BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce. This series is based on annually
changing price weights. Because this measure is not available for
years prior to 1977, U.S. measures of output, output per hour, and
unit labor costs begin with 1977.
The United States real output data through 2001 used in this report
were released by the BEA in November 2002 and are described in the
Survey of Current Business, November 2002. The BLS estimate of real
U.S. output for 2002 was derived by extrapolating the 2001 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 as part of its major
sector productivity and costs measures for the United States. While
both series are based on annually-changing price weights, the
international comparisons program uses a value added output concept,
while the major sector series is on a sectoral output basis and
begins with 1949. The U.S. major sector productivity and costs
measures can be found at internet address http://www.bls.gov/lpc/.
For information on the differences between the value added and the
sectoral output measures, see the Technical Notes section of this
release.
Germany
From 1991 forward, the estimated growth rates pertain to unified
Germany; prior to 1991, the rates pertained to the former West
Germany. The two data series were linked in 1991. See technical
notes for additional information.
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.
END OF BOX: Notes about the measures
-5-
Manufacturing productivity, output, and labor input
Labor productivity (output per hour) in U.S. manufacturing grew
6.4 percent in 2002, the fastest rate of increase since 1987. Labor
productivity in 2002 also grew in all other countries compared,
except Italy. U.S. growth was surpassed by three economies -- Korea
(7.2 percent), Sweden (7.6 percent), and Taiwan (6.7 percent). The
United Kingdom's productivity gain of 0.4 percent and the
Netherlands' 0.5 percent were the weakest gains among the countries
compared. The majority of economies compared experienced
productivity gains in 2002 after experiencing stagnant or negative
growth in 2001. France, Italy, Norway, and the United Kingdom, where
labor productivity growth slowed or declined, were exceptions. (See
table B.)
Substantial 2002 productivity gains in Belgium, Japan, Sweden, and
the United States reflected steep declines in hours worked with
moderate to negative output growth. In contrast, productivity gains
in Taiwan and Korea reflected steep rises in output and slight
declines in hours worked, similar to the productivity growth patterns
in both countries and in the United States and Sweden during 1995-
2000. (See table B.)
In contrast to the rise in U.S. manufacturing output during 1995-
2000, output declined for the second consecutive year in 2002, albeit
at a notably slower rate than in 2001. The drop in U.S. output was
the fourth largest decline in 2002 among the countries compared.
Only Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom recorded greater
declines. Output growth was relatively slow or negative in most
European countries compared and in Japan. Korea and Taiwan recorded
the highest output growth rates. In all countries except Taiwan and
Canada, output growth rates in 2002 were lower than average growth
rates during the 1979-2002 period.
Unlike output, total hours worked in manufacturing declined in
every country compared, with the exception of Canada and Italy. In
the United States, hours worked fell by 7.0 percent in 2002, the
largest annual drop in 20 years and the highest among the countries
compared. (The 6.4 percent decline in U.S. hours worked in 2001 is a
revision from the 5.6 percent decline reported in the February 2003
news release.) Elsewhere, the 2002 declines ranged between 0.1
percent in Taiwan and 6.4 percent in Japan. In six of the countries
where labor productivity grew in 2002, both hours worked and
manufacturing output declined, but hours declined more.
The reductions in hours worked continued a general trend during
the last decades in the manufacturing sectors of these economies. In
most of them, hours worked in manufacturing reached their maximum
levels in the 1960s and 1970s (the United States in 1979) and have
trended downward since then, the decline accelerating in the last few
years. In Taiwan and Korea, manufacturing hours have been declining
since the late 1980s. The only exception to this general trend is
Canada. (See tables B and 4.)
For most countries, reductions in manufacturing hours over the
last several decades were the result of declines in both
manufacturing employment and average hours worked. The reduction in
average hours began earlier, but the decline in employment has been
steeper and steadier. In some countries, average hours have risen
slightly since 1979. (See tables B, 5, and 6.)
-6-
In 2002 in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the
large reductions in total hours worked were due mainly to sharp drops
in manufacturing employment, while average hours worked changed
little. Canada and Italy were the only countries where there was a
slight increase in manufacturing employment in 2002, with Canada
recording an increase in average hours as well. Manufacturing
employment declined in all the other economies, and, except for
Taiwan and the United Kingdom, was accompanied by the same or fewer
average hours worked. (See table B.)
Manufacturing hourly compensation and unit labor costs
Hourly compensation in manufacturing increased between 2.2 and 6.5
percent in 2002 in most economies, including the United States (5.0
percent). Only Korea posted a double-digit increase (13.0 percent).
By contrast, Japan and Taiwan recorded declines in hourly
compensation in 2002. For most economies in 2002, hourly
compensation increases lagged behind their average annual growth
rates of the 1979--2002 period. (See table B.)
Similarly, the growth of manufacturing unit labor costs for most
countries, expressed in national currency, lagged behind the average
annual increases of 1979--2002. The United States, Japan, Taiwan,
Germany, and Sweden recorded declines in unit labor costs because
productivity growth was larger than hourly compensation growth. In
the other economies, hourly compensation growth outstripped
productivity growth. (See tables B and 9.)
To compare changes in competitiveness across economies, the impact
of exchange rate fluctuations have to be taken into account by
expressing unit labor costs in a common monetary unit. When a
foreign currency appreciates against the U.S. dollar, more dollars
must be paid in exchange for each national currency unit, leading to
a larger increase or a smaller decline in unit labor costs converted
from the foreign currency into U.S. dollars. This effectively makes
products from that country more expensive and worsens its
competitiveness.
In 2002, the U.S. dollar depreciated against the currencies of
most countries compared, particularly against the Norwegian krone
(12.7 percent). The decline against the euro was 5.6 percent. This
depreciation reversed a seven-year trend when the U.S. dollar
recorded annual average appreciation against most other currencies.
Only the Japanese yen and Canadian and Taiwanese dollars depreciated
against the U.S. dollar in 2002. (See table B.)
As a result of the dollar's fall, most countries showed large
increases in unit labor costs expressed in U.S. dollars, in
particular Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, and Korea. The annual
increase in Korean unit labor costs expressed in U.S. dollars was the
largest since the Asian financial crisis in 1997. As in 2001, Japan
and Taiwan continue to show the largest unit labor cost declines in
2002. The United States was the only other country with lower unit
labor costs.
Thus, for most economies in 2002, increases in unit labor costs
expressed in national currencies were below their average annual
growth rates of the last 30 years, but the depreciation of the U.S.
-7-
dollar in 2002 raised dollar-denominated unit labor cost increases
above their historical growth rates. (See table B.)
-8-
Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-2002
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2002 1979-1985 1985-1990 1990-1995 1995-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002
or area
Output per hour
United States 3.4 3.5 2.4 3.3 4.5 0.4 6.4
Canada 2.1 3.6 0.5 3.8 1.1 -2.0 1.5
Japan 3.6 3.5 4.3 3.3 4.1 -1.6 5.2
Korea NA NA 8.2 9.7 11.0 -0.8 7.2
Taiwan 6.0 5.1 7.9 5.3 5.5 6.3 6.7
Belgium 3.8 6.0 2.2 3.2 3.3 1.2 6.3
Denmark NA 2.4 0.7 NA NA NA NA
France 4.2 5.1 3.3 4.0 4.7 4.1 2.7
Germany 2/ 2.4 2.1 2.1 3.3 2.4 1.4 2.3
Italy 2.0 3.5 1.9 2.4 0.9 1.7 -1.4
Netherlands 3.0 4.6 2.2 3.5 2.5 -0.3 0.5
Norway 1.5 2.4 1.4 0.5 1.1 2.2 1.8
Sweden 4.5 3.1 1.9 5.7 7.8 0.9 7.6
United Kingdom 3.6 4.4 4.6 3.6 2.5 2.6 0.4
Output
United States 2.4 2.2 2.5 3.1 4.3 -6.0 -1.1
Canada 2.4 2.0 1.8 2.4 4.5 -3.3 2.6
Japan 2.5 4.7 4.8 0.4 2.0 -4.9 -1.5
Korea 8.8 8.3 12.2 8.4 8.1 2.1 6.3
Taiwan 6.0 8.2 7.0 5.0 5.7 -5.7 6.6
Belgium 2.1 2.6 2.5 0.6 3.2 0.3 0.5
Denmark 1.4 2.3 -0.6 1.7 1.8 4.4 0.4
France 2.1 1.6 2.5 1.1 3.5 3.0 0.1
Germany 2/ 0.6 0.2 2.3 -0.7 0.9 0.6 -0.3
Italy 1.5 0.9 3.2 1.5 1.2 0.8 -0.7
Netherlands 2.0 2.0 3.1 1.8 2.6 -0.9 -1.6
Norway 0.3 0.6 -1.6 1.1 1.0 0.5 -0.6
Sweden 3.4 2.2 1.4 3.7 7.7 -1.5 2.9
United Kingdom 0.5 -1.2 3.4 0.4 1.0 -2.4 -4.0
Continued on next page
-9-
Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-2002
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2002 1979-1985 1985-1990 1990-1995 1995-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002
or area
Total hours
United States -1.0 -1.2 0.0 -0.1 -0.2 -6.4 -7.0
Canada 0.3 -1.5 1.3 -1.3 3.4 -1.4 1.1
Japan -1.1 1.1 0.5 -2.8 -2.0 -3.4 -6.4
Korea NA NA 3.7 -1.2 -2.6 2.9 -0.8
Taiwan 0.0 2.9 -0.8 -0.3 0.2 -11.3 -0.1
Belgium -1.6 -3.2 0.4 -2.5 -0.1 -1.0 -5.5
Denmark NA -0.1 -1.3 NA NA NA NA
France -2.0 -3.3 -0.7 -2.7 -1.2 -1.1 -2.6
Germany 2/ -1.8 -1.9 0.2 -3.9 -1.5 -0.8 -2.6
Italy -0.5 -2.5 1.3 -0.9 0.3 -0.9 0.7
Netherlands -1.0 -2.5 0.9 -1.7 0.0 -0.6 -2.2
Norway -1.2 -1.8 -2.9 0.6 -0.1 -1.7 -2.4
Sweden -1.0 -0.8 -0.5 -1.9 -0.1 -2.4 -4.4
United Kingdom -3.0 -5.3 -1.2 -3.0 -1.4 -4.8 -4.4
Employment
United States -1.1 -1.4 -0.1 -0.6 -0.1 -4.7 -6.8
Canada 0.2 -1.3 1.2 -1.5 3.0 -0.4 0.7
Japan -0.7 1.2 0.8 -1.6 -1.9 -2.6 -6.4
Korea NA NA 5.4 -0.9 -2.5 5.2 -0.2
Taiwan 0.7 4.1 -0.5 -0.3 0.5 -4.5 -1.8
Belgium -1.5 -2.6 -0.3 -2.2 -0.7 0.1 -3.1
Denmark -0.7 0.2 -0.8 -1.2 -0.5 -1.1 -3.8
France -1.4 -2.3 -0.9 -2.5 -0.3 1.1 -1.7
Germany 2/ -1.2 -1.1 1.1 -4.2 -0.8 0.4 -2.1
Italy -1.0 -2.3 -0.2 -1.8 0.3 0.0 1.0
Netherlands -0.8 -2.3 1.0 -1.6 0.2 -0.5 -2.2
Norway -1.1 -1.8 -2.7 0.3 0.1 -1.4 -1.1
Sweden -1.4 -1.2 -0.8 -3.5 0.0 -1.0 -2.8
United Kingdom -2.7 -4.5 -0.9 -3.0 -1.1 -4.4 -5.1
Continued on next page
-10-
Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-2002
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2002 1979-1985 1985-1990 1990-1995 1995-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002
or area
Average hours
United States 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.4 -0.1 -1.8 -0.3
Canada 0.1 -0.2 0.1 0.3 0.4 -1.0 0.4
Japan -0.4 0.0 -0.3 -1.3 -0.1 -0.8 0.0
Korea NA NA -1.6 -0.2 -0.1 -2.1 -0.7
Taiwan -0.7 -1.1 -0.4 0.0 -0.3 -7.1 1.7
Belgium -0.1 -0.6 0.7 -0.3 0.7 -1.1 -2.4
Denmark NA -0.3 -0.5 NA NA NA NA
France -0.6 -1.1 0.1 -0.2 -0.9 -2.2 -0.9
Germany 2/ -0.6 -0.8 -0.9 0.3 -0.6 -1.2 -0.6
Italy 0.5 -0.1 1.6 0.9 0.0 -0.9 -0.2
Netherlands -0.2 -0.3 -0.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.1 0.0
Norway -0.1 0.0 -0.2 0.3 -0.2 -0.3 -1.3
Sweden 0.4 0.4 0.3 1.7 -0.1 -1.4 -1.6
United Kingdom -0.3 -0.8 -0.3 -0.1 -0.3 -0.4 0.7
Total labor compensation in manufacturing 3/: National currency basis
United States 3.6 5.8 3.9 3.4 3.7 -4.1 -2.4
Canada 5.1 7.5 5.6 2.4 4.9 2.1 5.7
Japan 2.0 5.9 5.1 0.7 -1.1 -2.6 -7.9
Korea NA NA 19.9 16.8 4.1 10.2 12.0
Taiwan 8.2 15.9 10.6 6.8 4.2 -9.4 -0.2
Belgium 3.0 4.7 4.0 1.3 1.9 4.1 0.7
Denmark 4.7 9.1 4.8 2.3 3.1 3.2 0.8
France 3.6 9.0 3.6 1.1 0.7 3.9 0.5
Germany 2/ 3.1 4.0 5.2 2.3 1.6 2.3 -0.4
Italy 6.9 13.0 8.2 4.0 3.1 2.7 3.2
Netherlands 3.1 2.4 3.9 2.8 3.4 4.6 2.8
Norway 5.4 8.0 4.7 4.0 5.0 3.7 3.5
Sweden 5.5 8.9 7.9 2.0 4.8 0.9 -0.8
United Kingdom 4.5 6.3 8.1 2.5 3.2 -0.5 -1.2
Continued on next page
-11-
Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-2002
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2002 1979-1985 1985-1990 1990-1995 1995-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002
or area
Hourly compensation 3/: National currency basis
United States 4.6 7.2 3.9 3.5 4.0 2.4 5.0
Canada 4.7 9.1 4.2 3.7 1.4 3.5 4.6
Japan 3.2 4.7 4.6 3.6 1.0 0.7 -1.6
Korea NA NA 15.6 18.2 6.9 7.0 13.0
Taiwan 8.2 12.6 11.5 7.1 4.0 2.2 -0.1
Belgium 4.7 8.1 3.7 3.9 2.0 5.2 6.5
Denmark NA 9.3 6.2 NA NA NA NA
France 5.8 12.7 4.3 3.9 1.9 5.0 3.2
Germany 2/ 5.0 6.0 5.0 6.4 3.1 3.1 2.2
Italy 7.4 15.9 6.8 4.9 2.8 3.6 2.5
Netherlands 4.1 5.1 3.0 4.5 3.3 5.2 5.1
Norway 6.6 10.0 7.8 3.4 5.2 5.5 6.0
Sweden 6.6 9.8 8.4 4.0 4.8 3.4 3.7
United Kingdom 7.8 12.2 9.4 5.7 4.7 4.6 3.3
Unit labor costs: National currency basis
United States 1.2 3.6 1.4 0.2 -0.5 2.0 -1.3
Canada 2.6 5.3 3.7 -0.1 0.4 5.5 3.1
Japan -0.4 1.1 0.3 0.3 -3.0 2.4 -6.4
Korea NA NA 6.9 7.8 -3.7 7.9 5.4
Taiwan 2.1 7.1 3.4 1.7 -1.5 -3.9 -6.3
Belgium 0.9 2.0 1.5 0.7 -1.3 3.9 0.2
Denmark 3.3 6.7 5.4 0.6 1.2 -1.1 0.4
France 1.5 7.3 1.0 -0.1 -2.7 0.9 0.4
Germany 2/ 2.5 3.8 2.8 3.1 0.7 1.7 -0.1
Italy 5.3 12.0 4.8 2.4 1.9 1.9 4.0
Netherlands 1.1 0.5 0.8 1.0 0.8 5.5 4.5
Norway 5.1 7.4 6.4 2.9 4.0 3.2 4.2
Sweden 2.0 6.5 6.4 -1.6 -2.7 2.5 -3.6
United Kingdom 4.0 7.5 4.5 2.1 2.2 1.9 2.9
Continued on next page
-12-
Table B. Output per hour, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and related measures
Manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1979-2002
Average annual rates of change 1/
Country 1979-2002 1979-1985 1985-1990 1990-1995 1995-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002
or area
Unit labor costs: U.S. dollar basis
United States 1.2 3.6 1.4 0.2 -0.5 2.0 -1.3
Canada 1.3 2.7 7.0 -3.3 -1.2 1.2 1.6
Japan 2.0 -0.3 10.8 9.4 -5.7 -9.2 -9.2
Korea NA NA 11.1 6.0 -10.7 -5.6 8.9
Taiwan 2.3 5.3 11.8 2.0 -4.7 -11.2 -8.3
Belgium -0.7 -9.3 13.8 3.3 -8.8 0.7 5.8
Denmark 1.5 -5.0 17.4 2.7 -6.0 -4.0 6.1
France -0.6 -5.3 11.6 1.7 -9.4 -2.2 6.1
Germany 2/ 1.9 -4.1 15.9 5.6 -6.9 -1.4 5.5
Italy 1.2 -2.5 15.1 -3.7 -3.1 -1.2 9.8
Netherlands 0.4 -7.6 13.6 3.6 -6.9 2.3 10.4
Norway 3.0 -1.7 13.3 2.6 -2.7 1.1 17.4
Sweden -1.5 -5.2 14.7 -5.2 -7.5 -9.1 2.5
United Kingdom 2.5 -1.0 11.4 -0.4 1.3 -3.2 7.4
Exchange rates 4/
United States -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Canada -1.3 -2.5 3.2 -3.2 -1.6 -4.1 -1.4
Japan 2.4 -1.5 10.5 9.1 -2.7 -11.3 -2.9
Korea -4.0 -9.2 3.9 -1.7 -7.3 -12.5 3.3
Taiwan 0.2 -1.7 8.2 0.3 -3.3 -7.6 -2.1
Belgium -1.6 -11.1 12.2 2.5 -7.6 -3.0 5.6
Denmark -1.7 -11.0 11.4 2.0 -7.1 -2.8 5.7
France -2.1 -11.7 10.5 1.8 -6.8 -3.0 5.6
Germany 2/ -0.5 -7.6 12.7 2.5 -7.5 -3.0 5.6
Italy -3.8 -12.9 9.8 -6.0 -4.9 -3.0 5.6
Netherlands -0.7 -8.0 12.7 2.6 -7.6 -3.0 5.6
Norway -2.0 -8.4 6.6 -0.3 -6.4 -2.0 12.7
Sweden -3.5 -11.0 7.8 -3.7 -4.9 -11.3 6.4
United Kingdom -1.5 -7.9 6.6 -2.4 -0.8 -5.0 4.4
NA = not available
1/Rates of change based on the compound 3/Adjusted to include employment taxes
rate method. that are not compensation to employees
but are labor costs to employers.
2/Data for years before 1991 pertain to the
former West Germany. 4/Value of foreign currency relative to
the U.S. dollar.
-13-
Trade-weighted unit labor costs
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
to take account of differences in the relative importance of foreign
economies to U.S. trade in manufactured goods. Chart 3 begins in 1979,
a year in which U.S. manufacturing output reached a business cycle peak.
PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT
Chart 3. U.S. manufacturing unit labor costs relative to 12
competitors, 1979-2002
The construction of the trade-weighted indexes 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 this release, the relative U.S.
trade-weighted indexes are estimated against 12 economies for which
comparable data are available over this period; the indexes underlying
this chart are shown in table C.
In chart 3, 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
1996 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 and 2001, only to dip
again in 2002 with a weakening of the U.S. dollar.
-14-
Table C. U.S. manufacturing unit labor costs
relative to 12(1) competitors, 1979-2002
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 111.4 110.3 101.0 111.4 110.0 101.2
1981 116.5 118.4 98.4 116.5 108.9 107.0
1982 124.2 125.9 98.7 124.2 104.8 118.5
1983 121.6 127.5 95.3 121.6 103.3 117.7
1984 121.0 128.2 94.4 121.0 97.9 123.6
1985 123.4 129.6 95.2 123.4 96.1 128.4
1986 128.9 135.5 95.1 128.9 122.3 105.4
1987 122.8 137.5 89.3 122.8 140.9 87.2
1988 122.5 137.3 89.2 122.5 151.5 80.9
1989 128.0 140.2 91.3 128.0 149.4 85.7
1990 132.4 146.2 90.6 132.4 161.8 81.8
1991 138.0 151.8 90.9 138.0 171.1 80.7
1992 141.3 155.1 91.1 141.3 179.0 79.0
1993 142.3 155.7 91.4 142.3 175.3 81.1
1994 139.2 153.1 90.9 139.2 175.3 79.4
1995 134.0 152.5 87.9 134.0 184.5 72.6
1996 132.1 153.5 86.1 132.1 176.3 74.9
1997 129.9 151.6 85.7 129.9 161.7 80.4
1998 131.2 153.6 85.4 131.2 155.2 84.5
1999 129.1 151.4 85.3 129.1 157.7 81.9
2000 130.4 146.7 88.9 130.4 148.5 87.8
2001 133.0 150.6 88.3 133.0 142.5 93.3
2002 131.2 148.9 88.1 131.2 141.8 92.5
(1) Korean data begin with 1985, and have been omitted from this table.
-15-
Technical Notes
Labor productivity is defined as real output per hour worked.
Although the labor productivity measure presented in this release
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 workforce.
Unit labor costs are defined as the cost of labor input required
to produce one unit of output. They are computed as labor
compensation in nominal terms divided by real output.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics constructs trend indexes of
manufacturing labor productivity, 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 Belgium, Denmark,
Italy, and Taiwan. 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 1950 to 1966 and the measures for
France include parts of mining.
The comparisons in this release make use of data made available to
BLS as of August 2003 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 which were compiled according to different accounting systems
by the countries' statistical agencies.
Output. For most countries, the output measures are real 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 manufacturing value added
measures for the United Kingdom are essentially identical to their
indexes of industrial production.
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) of
the U.S. Department of Commerce in August 1996. U.S. gross product
originating is a chain-type annual-weighted series. Because these
value added output data for U.S. manufacturing industries are not
available for years prior to 1977, the comparative U.S. measures of
output, output per hour, and unit labor costs begin with 1977. 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.
-16-
The U.S. gross product originating series differs from the
manufacturing output series that BLS publishes as part of its major
sector productivity and costs program. While both series are based
on annually-changing price weights, the gross product originating
series is on a value added basis rather than the sectoral output
basis used in the official U.S. manufacturing productivity series.
Sectoral output is gross output less intrasector sales and transfers.
For information on sectoral output, see William Gullickson,
"Measurement of productivity growth in U.S. manufacturing," Monthly
Labor Review, July 1995, pp. 13-28.
A value added concept has been used for the international
comparisons series because the data are more readily available from
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 productivity, there are other considerations that may
make value added a better concept for international comparisons of
labor productivity, such as differences among countries in the extent
of vertical integration of industries.
Estimation of manufacturing real output using moving price weights
is becoming prevalent. For example, the output measure for
manufacturing in the United States is the chain-weighted index of
real gross product originating, based on annually changing price
weights. However, many earlier time periods within the 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. For the United States, the primary source of hours data
for wage and salary workers is the BLS Current Employment Statistics
(CES) program. Hours for proprietors and unpaid family workers are
based on data from the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA)
prepared by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Department
of Commerce, and from the BLS Current Population Survey (CPS).
The aggregate hours worked series used for France (from 1970
forward), Norway, Sweden, and Canada are series published with the
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. For the United
Kingdom from 1992, an index of total manufacturing hours is used,
derived from published quarterly indices of manufacturing hours.
For all other countries, the U.K. before 1992, and the former West
Germany before 1959, BLS constructs its own estimates of aggregate
hours, using employment figures published with the national accounts,
or other comprehensive employment series, and estimates of average
annual hours worked. Hours measures for Denmark are not available
after 1993 due to a lack of comparable data.
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
-17-
employees. Real compensation for the United States is derived using
the Consumer Price Index research series (CPI-U-RS).
Data for Germany. The average annual growth rates for Germany
pertain to unified Germany from 1991 forward and to the former West
Germany for prior years. The data series are linked in 1991. In the
historic data tables, separate index series are shown for unified
Germany and for former West Germany. The West German estimates end
with 1998, the last year for which the German Statistical Office has
published the necessary underlying data. These estimates have not
been updated or revised by BLS since they were published in the news
release USDL 99-235, on Aug. 27, 1999.
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 Taiwan. BLS developed
weights for 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 25.31 Germany 11.61
Japan 30.57 Italy 4.60
Taiwan 5.79 Netherlands 2.25
Belgium 2.14 Norway 0.48
Denmark 0.48 Sweden 1.89
France 5.90 United Kingdom 8.99
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.
-18-
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
developed for total GDP are not suitable for each component industry,
such as manufacturing.
European exchange rates. On Jan. 1, 1999, 11 European countries
joined the European Monetary Union (EMU). Greece joined on Jan. 1,
2001. The euro, the official currency of the EMU, was established at
fixed conversion rates to the previous national currencies of EMU
members. Data on manufacturing value added and labor compensation
for euro-area countries are now reported in euros. And exchange rates
between the previous national currencies of euro-area 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 order to maintain historical continuity of data series, data
for euro-area countries for years before 1999 have been converted to
euros by applying the fixed euro/national currency conversion rates.
For countries and years where output, compensation and exchange rates
are converted from national currency units into euros, the following
fixed conversion rates are used:
1 euro equals:40.3399 Belgian francs 1936.27 Italian lire
6.55957 French francs 2.20371 Netherlands guilders
1.95583 German marks
The currency exchange rates cited in this publication are annual
averages of daily buying rates in New York City.
- 19 -
Table 1. Output per hour in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 26.0 NA NA NA NA 21.2 12.1 NA 13.2 13.5 11.4 25.1 19.5 24.5
1955 NA 31.9 8.6 NA NA NA 23.1 15.2 NA 19.7 18.8 14.6 29.2 21.3 26.5
1960 NA 37.8 13.8 NA NA 18.0 28.1 19.8 NA 29.2 23.6 18.8 37.6 27.3 30.0
1961 NA 39.8 15.6 NA NA 18.2 29.7 21.1 NA 30.6 25.5 19.8 38.9 28.7 30.1
1962 NA 42.7 16.4 NA NA 19.2 31.2 22.4 NA 32.8 28.2 20.6 38.9 30.9 30.7
1963 NA 44.5 17.7 NA NA 19.9 32.2 23.6 NA 34.1 29.0 21.4 40.9 32.7 32.4
1964 NA 46.3 20.1 NA NA 21.2 34.9 25.5 NA 37.1 29.3 23.4 43.2 35.5 34.5
1965 NA 48.6 21.0 NA NA 22.3 36.6 27.3 NA 39.3 32.6 24.9 45.8 38.2 35.5
1966 NA 49.5 23.0 NA NA 23.8 38.4 29.5 NA 40.9 35.4 26.6 47.7 39.8 36.7
1967 NA 50.0 26.0 NA NA 25.1 41.4 31.3 NA 43.4 37.2 28.6 49.5 43.2 38.4
1968 NA 52.7 29.1 NA NA 27.3 44.4 34.6 NA 47.0 40.1 32.1 52.5 47.2 41.3
1969 NA 55.4 33.4 NA NA 29.9 46.7 36.8 NA 50.4 41.6 35.2 57.4 50.9 42.3
1970 NA 54.9 37.5 NA NA 32.9 49.4 39.0 NA 52.0 44.3 38.5 59.1 52.2 43.2
1971 NA 58.2 39.8 NA NA 35.1 52.8 41.2 NA 54.0 45.0 40.8 60.9 54.5 45.4
1972 NA 61.3 43.6 NA NA 39.2 57.6 43.1 NA 57.4 47.8 44.0 64.0 57.2 47.9
1973 NA 65.2 47.6 NA 33.1 43.5 63.5 46.1 NA 61.1 52.1 48.8 67.9 61.4 51.4
1974 NA 66.2 48.8 NA 32.0 45.8 65.2 47.2 NA 63.2 55.3 52.3 70.5 64.0 52.2
1975 NA 63.4 50.2 NA 33.7 47.6 70.6 48.8 NA 65.9 52.3 51.6 69.9 65.0 51.1
1976 NA 68.8 53.2 NA 36.7 52.4 74.4 51.8 NA 70.6 59.8 57.2 71.5 66.0 53.3
1977 68.3 72.4 55.3 NA 38.5 55.0 77.3 54.9 NA 72.7 61.7 61.9 72.6 65.0 53.8
1978 69.2 73.8 57.5 NA 43.4 58.3 79.6 57.3 NA 75.2 64.9 64.6 73.9 66.8 54.6
1979 70.1 73.9 62.2 NA 45.1 61.4 83.3 59.4 NA 78.4 71.1 67.4 79.3 72.0 55.0
1980 70.5 72.9 63.2 NA 47.7 65.4 86.2 61.5 NA 77.2 74.2 69.1 77.9 73.1 54.3
1981 74.1 76.5 65.2 NA 52.8 70.1 87.3 65.0 NA 78.7 73.8 71.7 77.6 72.7 57.1
1982 76.2 77.1 67.9 NA 54.1 73.5 88.4 69.7 NA 78.8 74.0 72.3 80.9 75.4 60.2
1983 80.0 81.9 68.8 NA 57.5 81.0 93.5 73.3 NA 82.6 75.7 77.5 83.6 80.9 65.0
1984 83.2 88.8 71.2 NA 59.1 85.0 94.3 75.7 NA 85.4 81.9 85.3 88.8 85.2 68.4
1985 86.0 91.1 76.5 54.9 60.9 87.0 95.8 79.8 NA 89.1 87.4 88.5 91.6 86.2 71.1
1986 86.0 87.6 76.1 58.9 66.6 87.8 91.8 82.4 NA 89.6 87.9 89.7 90.3 87.5 73.9
1987 92.9 87.8 80.2 63.2 72.8 88.9 91.5 83.9 NA 88.1 89.3 90.4 94.7 89.2 78.1
1988 96.9 89.6 83.9 68.7 76.4 92.0 94.1 88.4 NA 91.5 93.9 92.3 93.5 90.5 82.6
1989 95.7 92.5 88.6 73.2 83.1 96.9 100.2 92.1 NA 94.6 95.5 96.4 96.0 93.2 86.2
1990 96.9 93.4 94.4 81.3 88.9 96.8 99.1 93.8 NA 99.0 95.8 98.7 98.1 94.6 89.2
1991 97.9 95.3 99.0 91.4 96.6 99.1 99.5 97.0 98.3 101.9 95.9 99.0 98.2 95.5 93.8
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 102.1 105.8 101.7 108.1 102.9 102.5 99.3 100.7 101.8 100.6 101.4 102.0 99.6 107.3 104.2
1994 107.3 110.8 103.3 118.0 106.7 108.4 NA 108.2 109.6 107.9 104.9 113.1 99.6 117.8 108.4
1995 113.8 112.4 111.0 129.2 115.1 113.2 NA 113.8 112.3 111.2 108.0 117.3 100.7 124.5 106.4
1996 117.0 109.7 116.1 142.5 123.1 117.3 NA 114.5 114.7 115.1 108.1 119.3 102.5 129.5 105.6
1997 121.3 113.5 121.0 163.3 129.2 127.0 NA 121.8 120.4 121.8 109.9 121.4 102.0 141.0 107.0
1998 126.5 113.1 121.2 182.9 135.8 129.4 NA 127.8 122.0 127.1 110.0 124.1 99.9 149.5 108.6
1999 133.7 116.0 126.7 202.3 143.1 128.8 NA 133.0 121.3 NA 109.7 127.0 103.6 162.7 113.4
2000 142.1 118.4 135.9 217.8 150.6 133.2 NA 143.4 126.7 NA 112.7 132.7 106.6 181.0 120.1
2001 142.7 116.1 133.8 216.1 160.1 134.9 NA 149.3 128.4 NA 114.6 132.3 108.9 182.6 123.2
2002 151.9 117.9 140.7 231.7 170.9 143.4 NA 153.3 131.4 NA 113.0 133.1 110.9 196.5 123.7
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 20 -
Table 2. Output per employed person in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 28.3 NA NA NA NA 29.9 14.6 NA 19.2 14.2 14.8 32.8 25.3 30.2
1955 NA 33.4 10.3 NA NA NA 31.9 18.3 NA 28.8 20.3 19.0 38.2 27.5 33.0
1960 NA 39.3 17.1 NA NA 22.6 36.9 23.9 NA 38.4 25.7 24.7 47.3 33.3 36.6
1961 NA 41.3 19.1 NA NA 22.9 37.8 25.5 NA 39.6 27.5 25.0 48.3 34.7 36.2
1962 NA 44.6 19.6 NA NA 24.1 40.1 27.1 NA 41.3 29.5 25.8 48.1 37.1 36.6
1963 NA 46.6 21.0 NA NA 25.0 40.7 28.6 NA 42.4 30.4 26.7 50.4 38.9 38.6
1964 NA 48.7 23.7 NA NA 26.5 44.4 30.7 NA 46.1 30.7 28.9 53.5 41.8 41.5
1965 NA 51.1 24.3 NA NA 27.4 46.5 32.5 NA 48.7 33.1 30.8 55.4 44.5 42.1
1966 NA 51.6 26.8 NA NA 29.1 48.0 35.3 NA 50.0 36.4 32.6 57.9 46.4 42.7
1967 NA 52.2 30.4 NA NA 30.3 51.1 37.1 NA 51.7 38.7 34.9 59.5 49.5 44.4
1968 NA 55.0 33.9 NA NA 33.0 53.5 39.9 NA 56.6 41.8 38.5 61.6 52.9 48.1
1969 NA 57.5 38.3 NA NA 35.7 55.7 43.4 NA 60.7 43.0 41.7 65.8 56.1 49.3
1970 NA 56.7 42.6 NA NA 38.3 57.0 45.5 NA 62.4 44.9 44.7 67.3 57.4 49.5
1971 NA 59.9 44.5 NA NA 40.2 60.7 47.7 NA 63.4 44.3 46.9 68.6 59.8 50.8
1972 NA 63.1 48.5 NA NA 43.9 64.7 49.4 NA 66.6 46.8 50.0 71.1 61.1 53.1
1973 NA 66.6 52.4 NA 36.9 47.6 67.5 52.1 NA 70.4 51.7 54.3 74.9 64.4 57.7
1974 NA 67.1 51.5 NA 34.4 48.7 70.8 52.5 NA 71.4 52.9 56.5 76.7 66.5 56.7
1975 NA 63.5 51.8 NA 37.1 48.0 74.2 52.8 NA 72.5 49.1 54.7 75.6 66.2 55.3
1976 NA 69.0 56.5 NA 40.5 53.8 78.6 56.2 NA 79.9 56.2 60.5 75.3 66.4 58.2
1977 67.1 72.6 58.9 NA 42.6 56.1 80.9 59.0 NA 81.1 57.7 65.1 75.2 64.9 59.2
1978 67.9 74.5 61.5 NA 47.5 59.4 82.3 61.1 NA 82.8 60.6 67.3 75.0 64.9 59.8
1979 68.4 74.2 67.0 NA 49.2 62.6 86.1 63.2 NA 86.0 65.8 69.4 79.1 69.0 60.0
1980 67.9 72.6 68.0 NA 52.1 65.6 89.6 65.4 NA 83.5 68.9 71.6 78.2 69.3 57.6
1981 71.4 75.4 69.7 NA 54.9 68.7 89.6 68.2 NA 84.1 68.4 74.6 78.0 69.3 59.3
1982 72.1 75.4 72.3 NA 56.2 73.7 92.1 70.3 NA 83.7 68.5 76.0 80.6 72.1 62.9
1983 77.8 81.2 73.4 NA 59.8 79.2 98.7 73.6 NA 87.9 70.0 81.7 83.7 78.3 67.8
1984 82.0 87.9 76.6 NA 61.9 82.5 99.3 76.0 NA 90.9 75.9 88.6 88.6 84.0 71.4
1985 84.9 90.7 82.1 60.7 62.0 85.7 97.5 79.7 NA 93.1 80.2 89.5 91.1 84.4 73.8
1986 84.8 87.7 81.2 66.3 69.0 86.5 95.6 82.5 NA 93.0 83.1 90.3 89.9 85.3 76.5
1987 92.1 88.6 86.0 70.0 75.4 88.4 93.2 84.5 NA 91.3 86.9 90.6 92.0 88.0 80.9
1988 96.9 92.3 90.9 74.2 78.2 93.0 95.9 89.4 NA 94.4 92.0 93.2 91.6 89.1 85.9
1989 95.7 93.2 94.8 76.0 83.8 97.5 100.8 93.1 NA 96.2 94.7 96.8 94.6 91.5 89.0
1990 96.3 93.6 99.7 83.2 88.8 98.5 98.5 94.2 NA 98.8 95.0 99.0 96.4 93.9 91.3
1991 96.6 95.1 102.2 92.7 96.6 99.2 99.1 96.5 94.7 101.0 96.0 99.1 97.2 94.7 93.8
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 103.4 106.9 99.6 108.3 102.9 100.9 98.5 100.6 99.4 97.6 99.8 101.9 99.9 110.0 105.1
1994 109.7 113.0 101.4 119.0 107.0 109.7 110.2 108.2 107.8 104.7 106.9 113.1 100.1 126.4 109.3
1995 115.6 114.1 109.7 130.5 114.9 113.3 113.7 113.0 110.5 107.3 112.2 117.5 100.3 134.5 108.5
1996 118.7 112.2 115.4 141.7 122.7 117.9 108.6 113.8 110.3 109.3 110.9 119.5 101.5 139.6 107.9
1997 123.9 116.0 119.6 160.1 129.2 127.8 118.1 120.7 115.9 116.0 114.2 121.0 100.8 151.6 109.2
1998 128.1 116.2 117.3 172.2 133.2 130.4 117.3 126.4 117.9 122.3 113.5 123.5 99.1 160.8 110.3
1999 136.3 120.4 122.5 205.7 141.2 133.1 121.2 130.8 116.7 NA 113.7 126.4 103.1 176.0 114.3
2000 143.6 122.7 133.6 218.5 148.4 137.7 127.6 136.2 120.7 NA 117.3 131.9 104.9 194.9 120.7
2001 141.6 119.1 130.5 212.1 146.5 137.9 134.7 138.7 120.9 NA 118.2 131.4 107.0 193.9 123.3
2002 150.3 121.4 137.2 225.9 158.9 143.1 140.5 141.2 123.1 NA 116.2 132.1 107.5 205.4 124.7
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 21 -
Table 3. Output in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 22.0 2.2 NA NA NA 29.1 16.6 NA 14.5 10.1 16.9 39.0 30.9 49.6
1955 NA 28.5 4.9 NA NA NA 32.0 20.6 NA 27.5 15.6 23.1 47.7 35.7 58.3
1960 NA 33.4 10.7 NA NA 30.7 44.4 27.9 NA 41.5 23.0 31.9 57.7 45.9 67.3
1961 NA 34.7 12.9 NA NA 32.1 46.8 30.0 NA 44.0 25.4 33.0 60.1 49.0 67.6
1962 NA 38.6 14.0 NA NA 34.6 50.8 32.1 NA 46.2 28.1 34.6 60.6 52.8 67.7
1963 NA 41.2 15.6 NA NA 36.2 51.4 34.6 NA 47.1 29.9 36.1 64.2 55.4 70.2
1964 NA 45.1 18.1 NA NA 39.5 57.5 37.8 NA 51.2 30.3 39.5 68.8 60.3 76.5
1965 NA 49.5 18.8 NA NA 40.8 61.3 39.7 NA 55.0 31.9 42.2 72.4 64.5 78.7
1966 NA 52.9 21.3 NA NA 43.2 62.6 43.3 NA 55.9 34.8 44.5 76.7 66.3 80.1
1967 NA 53.9 25.6 NA NA 43.7 63.7 45.4 NA 54.7 38.3 46.3 79.2 68.5 80.6
1968 NA 57.0 29.5 NA NA 46.7 67.3 47.9 NA 60.3 41.8 50.7 81.1 72.0 86.6
1969 NA 60.7 34.4 NA NA 52.2 71.8 53.7 NA 67.4 44.5 55.5 87.0 77.7 89.9
1970 NA 58.9 39.2 7.0 12.7 57.6 73.9 57.7 NA 70.9 48.1 59.8 91.0 80.7 90.2
1971 NA 62.5 41.0 8.3 15.5 60.1 75.1 61.3 NA 71.6 48.8 61.8 93.4 81.2 89.3
1972 NA 67.9 44.7 9.5 18.9 64.7 81.5 64.2 NA 73.8 51.5 63.4 97.7 81.7 91.2
1973 NA 74.9 50.4 12.3 22.3 70.6 85.5 69.1 NA 78.5 58.1 68.0 103.3 87.5 99.7
1974 NA 76.5 49.1 14.3 21.0 73.4 85.9 70.4 NA 77.7 61.8 70.5 106.9 92.2 98.4
1975 NA 70.4 46.6 16.2 22.0 67.9 82.1 69.0 NA 74.1 58.3 65.9 104.5 92.5 91.6
1976 NA 76.4 50.6 19.9 27.0 73.0 86.8 73.0 NA 79.8 66.9 69.9 104.0 92.5 93.3
1977 72.5 78.8 52.2 22.8 30.6 73.3 88.2 76.4 NA 81.3 69.3 73.4 104.0 87.2 95.2
1978 76.5 83.2 53.7 27.5 37.1 74.3 88.8 78.1 NA 82.8 72.7 74.1 101.9 84.9 95.7
1979 79.0 85.9 58.4 30.1 40.0 76.2 92.8 79.6 NA 87.1 80.3 75.6 106.0 90.3 95.5
1980 75.8 83.6 60.4 29.9 44.0 78.2 94.4 81.6 NA 85.3 84.4 76.9 104.9 90.7 87.2
1981 79.2 86.6 62.6 32.7 47.3 77.2 90.4 82.2 NA 84.4 81.8 78.0 103.0 88.0 81.8
1982 74.6 78.7 64.6 34.6 48.5 80.4 92.1 83.4 NA 81.5 80.2 76.4 102.5 88.3 81.7
1983 79.2 82.5 66.6 39.5 54.1 84.6 98.0 85.5 NA 82.7 79.6 78.3 101.1 93.9 83.5
1984 87.6 91.8 71.0 46.0 62.2 87.2 103.0 85.7 NA 85.2 82.2 83.0 106.0 101.3 86.5
1985 90.0 96.9 76.7 48.8 64.3 89.1 106.1 87.5 NA 88.3 84.9 85.0 109.8 102.9 89.0
1986 88.6 96.8 75.5 57.9 74.7 89.1 106.9 89.0 NA 89.7 86.4 86.7 109.5 104.0 90.2
1987 96.4 100.7 79.0 68.5 84.3 88.8 101.8 89.1 NA 88.0 89.0 87.9 112.0 106.6 94.5
1988 103.2 108.5 85.3 76.7 87.7 93.3 100.9 93.2 NA 90.9 95.0 90.2 106.6 109.8 101.4
1989 102.4 111.3 90.9 79.4 90.8 99.1 105.0 97.7 NA 94.0 98.3 94.4 102.6 110.9 105.5
1990 101.6 106.0 97.1 86.7 90.0 101.0 102.8 99.1 NA 99.1 99.4 99.0 101.4 110.1 105.4
1991 98.3 99.0 102.0 95.0 96.1 100.7 101.5 99.8 102.3 102.8 99.3 99.8 99.0 104.1 100.0
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 103.5 105.9 96.3 105.4 102.4 97.0 95.6 95.7 92.4 91.8 96.5 97.7 101.7 101.9 101.4
1994 111.1 114.1 94.9 116.8 108.5 101.4 105.6 100.3 95.1 93.5 102.4 104.5 104.6 117.0 106.1
1995 118.4 119.6 98.9 129.9 114.9 104.2 111.6 104.9 95.2 93.7 107.2 108.2 107.3 131.9 107.8
1996 121.3 119.6 103.0 138.7 120.3 106.7 106.7 104.6 92.5 92.5 105.4 108.9 110.3 136.4 108.5
1997 127.9 127.7 106.5 147.8 128.3 114.0 115.2 109.7 95.7 95.8 108.8 111.6 114.2 146.5 109.9
1998 133.1 132.8 100.2 136.8 132.6 116.5 115.7 115.0 97.7 100.7 110.7 114.9 113.7 158.3 110.8
1999 139.5 141.0 101.9 165.6 141.5 117.3 117.7 118.7 95.7 NA 110.3 117.6 113.6 172.5 111.1
2000 146.1 148.8 109.2 191.9 151.8 122.0 122.1 124.3 99.8 NA 113.7 122.8 112.8 191.1 113.4
2001 137.3 143.9 103.9 195.9 143.1 122.3 127.5 128.0 100.4 NA 114.6 121.7 113.4 188.2 110.7
2002 135.9 147.6 102.3 208.3 152.5 122.9 128.0 128.1 100.0 NA 113.8 119.7 112.6 193.7 106.3
NA: Not Available
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 22 -
Table 4. Total hours in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 137.3 136.7 NA 109.8 75.0 147.9 155.6 158.5 202.2
1955 94.6 89.4 57.0 NA NA NA 138.5 135.5 NA 139.6 83.1 158.3 163.7 167.3 220.2
1960 92.1 88.3 77.8 NA NA 170.7 157.8 140.5 NA 142.3 97.6 169.8 153.6 168.3 224.6
1961 89.7 87.2 82.4 NA NA 175.9 157.5 142.1 NA 143.9 99.6 166.3 154.5 171.0 224.7
1962 93.4 90.3 85.1 NA NA 180.3 162.7 143.2 NA 140.8 99.5 168.4 155.8 170.8 220.3
1963 94.4 92.6 87.9 NA NA 181.8 159.6 146.5 NA 138.1 103.2 168.7 156.9 169.1 216.6
1964 96.4 97.2 90.0 NA NA 186.5 164.9 148.3 NA 138.0 103.5 169.1 159.2 169.6 221.7
1965 102.0 101.9 89.8 NA NA 183.2 167.5 145.5 NA 140.0 97.7 169.5 158.1 168.8 221.5
1966 108.6 106.8 92.8 NA NA 181.5 162.8 147.0 NA 136.7 98.2 167.5 160.8 166.5 218.2
1967 108.0 107.9 98.3 NA NA 173.6 153.8 145.0 NA 125.9 102.8 161.9 160.1 158.4 209.8
1968 109.6 108.2 101.4 NA NA 170.9 151.7 138.5 NA 128.3 104.2 158.0 154.6 152.6 209.6
1969 110.9 109.7 103.0 NA NA 174.9 153.6 146.0 NA 133.8 107.0 157.7 151.7 152.5 212.4
1970 104.4 107.1 104.4 NA NA 174.7 149.5 148.0 NA 136.3 108.5 155.5 153.9 154.7 208.8
1971 100.5 107.4 103.1 NA NA 171.4 142.1 148.7 NA 132.5 108.4 151.6 153.4 149.1 196.9
1972 105.1 110.8 102.6 NA NA 165.2 141.4 148.9 NA 128.7 107.7 144.2 152.6 142.9 190.5
1973 110.4 114.9 106.0 NA 67.4 162.1 134.8 149.7 NA 128.4 111.4 139.5 152.1 142.5 194.1
1974 107.9 115.5 100.6 NA 65.6 160.4 131.7 149.3 NA 122.9 111.8 134.7 151.5 144.0 188.5
1975 97.2 111.1 92.8 NA 65.1 142.6 116.3 141.3 NA 112.5 111.4 127.6 149.6 142.3 179.3
1976 101.9 111.1 95.0 NA 73.7 139.4 116.7 141.0 NA 113.1 111.9 122.1 145.5 140.2 175.1
1977 106.1 108.8 94.4 NA 79.3 133.3 114.1 139.2 NA 111.8 112.3 118.6 143.2 134.2 176.9
1978 110.6 112.8 93.3 NA 85.5 127.4 111.5 136.3 NA 110.1 112.0 114.7 137.9 127.1 175.4
1979 112.7 116.2 93.8 NA 88.7 124.2 111.3 134.2 NA 111.0 112.9 112.1 133.7 125.5 173.7
1980 107.5 114.6 95.6 NA 92.3 119.7 109.6 132.7 NA 110.5 113.8 111.2 134.7 124.0 160.5
1981 107.0 113.2 95.9 NA 89.7 110.2 103.6 126.4 NA 107.1 111.0 108.9 132.7 121.0 143.3
1982 97.9 102.0 95.1 NA 89.6 109.4 104.1 119.7 NA 103.4 108.4 105.7 126.8 117.2 135.6
1983 98.9 100.7 96.8 NA 94.0 104.3 104.9 116.5 NA 100.1 105.3 101.0 120.9 116.1 128.4
1984 105.3 103.4 99.8 NA 105.2 102.6 109.2 113.2 NA 99.7 100.3 97.3 119.4 118.9 126.4
1985 104.6 106.4 100.3 88.8 105.5 102.4 110.7 109.7 NA 99.1 97.1 96.1 119.9 119.4 125.2
1986 103.0 110.5 99.2 98.3 112.2 101.5 116.4 108.0 NA 100.1 98.3 96.7 121.2 118.9 122.0
1987 103.8 114.7 98.5 108.3 115.8 100.0 111.2 106.1 NA 99.9 99.7 97.2 118.3 119.5 121.0
1988 106.6 121.2 101.7 111.6 114.8 101.5 107.2 105.4 NA 99.3 101.2 97.7 114.0 121.4 122.8
1989 107.1 120.2 102.7 108.5 109.2 102.3 104.7 106.0 NA 99.3 103.0 97.9 106.8 119.0 122.4
1990 104.8 113.5 102.9 106.6 101.3 104.3 103.7 105.7 NA 100.1 103.7 100.3 103.4 116.4 118.1
1991 100.4 103.9 103.1 103.9 99.5 101.5 102.1 102.9 104.1 100.9 103.6 100.8 100.8 109.0 106.6
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 101.4 100.1 94.7 97.5 99.6 94.7 96.2 95.0 90.8 91.3 95.2 95.8 102.1 94.9 97.3
1994 103.6 103.0 91.9 98.9 101.6 93.6 NA 92.7 86.8 86.7 97.6 92.4 105.0 99.4 97.9
1995 104.0 106.4 89.1 100.6 99.8 92.0 NA 92.2 84.8 84.3 99.3 92.3 106.6 105.9 101.2
1996 103.6 109.0 88.7 97.3 97.7 91.0 NA 91.3 80.6 80.4 97.5 91.2 107.6 105.3 102.8
1997 105.4 112.4 88.0 90.5 99.3 89.7 NA 90.1 79.5 78.6 99.0 91.9 112.0 103.9 102.8
1998 105.2 117.5 82.7 74.8 97.7 90.0 NA 90.0 80.1 79.3 100.6 92.6 113.7 105.9 102.0
1999 104.4 121.5 80.4 81.9 98.9 91.0 NA 89.2 78.9 NA 100.5 92.6 109.6 106.0 98.0
2000 102.8 125.6 80.3 88.1 100.8 91.6 NA 86.7 78.8 NA 100.8 92.5 105.9 105.6 94.4
2001 96.3 123.9 77.7 90.7 89.4 90.7 NA 85.8 78.2 NA 100.0 91.9 104.1 103.1 89.8
2002 89.5 125.2 72.7 89.9 89.3 85.7 NA 83.6 76.1 NA 100.7 89.9 101.6 98.6 85.9
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 23 -
Table 5. Employment in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 97.5 113.3 NA 75.2 71.4 113.6 119.0 122.0 164.2
1955 93.1 85.3 47.8 NA NA NA 100.2 112.9 NA 95.5 77.1 121.3 124.9 129.7 176.6
1960 92.6 84.8 62.8 NA NA 135.7 120.3 116.5 NA 108.1 89.5 128.8 121.9 137.8 183.9
1961 90.0 84.1 67.5 NA NA 140.1 123.7 117.3 NA 111.3 92.4 131.7 124.5 141.3 186.4
1962 92.8 86.5 71.3 NA NA 143.3 126.8 118.5 NA 111.8 95.3 134.2 126.0 142.2 184.7
1963 93.5 88.5 74.1 NA NA 144.7 126.4 121.0 NA 111.0 98.3 134.9 127.4 142.4 181.8
1964 94.9 92.5 76.4 NA NA 148.8 129.5 123.3 NA 111.0 98.6 136.5 128.5 144.3 184.5
1965 99.3 96.9 77.4 NA NA 148.7 131.7 122.1 NA 113.0 96.3 137.3 130.6 144.8 187.0
1966 105.4 102.4 79.7 NA NA 148.5 130.4 122.7 NA 111.8 95.7 136.4 132.4 143.0 187.5
1967 106.7 103.3 84.3 NA NA 143.9 124.6 122.2 NA 105.8 98.8 132.4 133.2 138.3 181.7
1968 108.5 103.8 87.2 NA NA 141.5 125.7 120.1 NA 106.6 100.2 131.5 131.7 136.0 180.0
1969 110.6 105.7 89.7 NA NA 146.3 129.0 123.6 NA 111.0 103.6 133.2 132.3 138.4 182.4
1970 106.3 103.9 91.9 NA NA 150.2 129.7 126.8 NA 113.6 107.0 133.7 135.3 140.6 182.1
1971 102.2 104.4 92.3 NA NA 149.6 123.6 128.4 NA 112.9 109.9 131.7 136.1 135.9 175.9
1972 105.0 107.7 92.3 NA NA 147.4 125.8 129.9 NA 110.8 110.0 127.0 137.5 133.8 171.8
1973 110.5 112.5 96.2 NA 60.3 148.4 126.6 132.7 NA 111.5 112.4 125.3 137.8 135.8 172.8
1974 110.1 113.9 95.3 NA 61.2 150.7 121.4 134.1 NA 108.9 116.9 124.9 139.3 138.7 173.4
1975 100.6 110.9 90.0 NA 59.3 141.5 110.6 130.8 NA 102.2 118.5 120.6 138.3 139.8 165.5
1976 104.2 110.7 89.5 NA 66.7 135.8 110.5 130.0 NA 99.9 119.1 115.6 138.1 139.4 160.2
1977 108.2 108.5 88.6 NA 71.9 130.5 109.1 129.5 NA 100.3 120.1 112.7 138.3 134.5 160.8
1978 112.7 111.7 87.4 NA 78.1 125.0 107.8 128.0 NA 100.0 120.0 110.1 135.8 130.7 160.1
1979 115.6 115.7 87.2 NA 81.4 121.8 107.8 126.0 NA 101.2 121.9 108.9 134.0 131.0 159.2
1980 111.6 115.1 88.9 NA 84.4 119.3 105.4 124.7 NA 102.2 122.6 107.4 134.2 130.9 151.4
1981 111.0 114.8 89.8 NA 86.2 112.4 100.9 120.5 NA 100.3 119.6 104.6 132.0 127.0 137.9
1982 103.5 104.3 89.3 NA 86.3 109.2 99.9 118.7 NA 97.4 117.1 100.5 127.3 122.4 129.8
1983 101.8 101.6 90.8 NA 90.5 106.8 99.3 116.2 NA 94.1 113.7 95.9 120.8 119.9 123.1
1984 106.8 104.4 92.7 NA 100.4 105.7 103.7 112.8 NA 93.7 108.4 93.7 119.6 120.5 121.2
1985 106.0 106.8 93.5 80.3 103.7 104.0 108.8 109.9 NA 94.9 105.8 94.9 120.5 122.0 120.6
1986 104.5 110.4 93.0 87.3 108.4 103.0 111.8 107.9 NA 96.4 103.9 96.0 121.7 121.9 118.0
1987 104.7 113.7 91.9 97.9 111.8 100.5 109.3 105.4 NA 96.4 102.5 97.0 121.8 121.1 116.9
1988 106.6 117.6 93.9 103.4 112.2 100.4 105.3 104.2 NA 96.3 103.3 96.8 116.3 123.3 118.1
1989 107.0 119.4 95.9 104.4 108.3 101.7 104.1 104.9 NA 97.6 103.8 97.5 108.4 121.2 118.5
1990 105.4 113.2 97.5 104.3 101.4 102.5 104.3 105.2 NA 100.3 104.6 100.0 105.2 117.2 115.4
1991 101.8 104.1 99.8 102.5 99.5 101.5 102.4 103.5 108.0 101.8 103.5 100.7 101.9 109.9 106.7
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 100.1 99.1 96.8 97.3 99.6 96.1 97.0 95.2 93.0 94.0 96.8 95.9 101.8 92.6 96.5
1994 101.3 100.9 93.6 98.1 101.4 92.5 95.8 92.7 88.2 89.3 95.8 92.4 104.5 92.6 97.1
1995 102.5 104.8 90.1 99.6 99.9 91.9 98.1 92.8 86.2 87.3 95.6 92.1 107.0 98.0 99.3
1996 102.2 106.6 89.3 97.9 98.1 90.5 98.3 91.9 83.8 84.6 95.1 91.1 108.7 97.7 100.6
1997 103.2 110.0 89.1 92.3 99.3 89.2 97.6 90.9 82.6 82.6 95.3 92.2 113.3 96.6 100.7
1998 104.0 114.3 85.5 79.5 99.6 89.3 98.6 91.0 82.9 82.4 97.5 93.1 114.7 98.4 100.4
1999 102.4 117.1 83.2 80.5 100.2 88.1 97.1 90.7 82.0 NA 97.0 93.1 110.2 98.0 97.2
2000 101.8 121.2 81.7 87.8 102.3 88.6 95.7 91.3 82.7 NA 96.9 93.1 107.5 98.0 93.9
2001 97.0 120.7 79.6 92.4 97.7 88.7 94.7 92.3 83.0 NA 96.9 92.6 106.0 97.0 89.8
2002 90.4 121.5 74.5 92.2 96.0 85.9 91.1 90.7 81.3 NA 97.9 90.6 104.8 94.3 85.2
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 24 -
Table 6. Average annual hours in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 140.7 120.7 NA 146.0 105.1 130.2 130.8 129.9 123.1
1955 101.5 104.8 119.3 NA NA NA 138.2 120.1 NA 146.1 107.8 130.5 131.1 129.0 124.7
1960 99.5 104.1 123.9 NA NA 125.8 131.2 120.6 NA 131.7 109.0 131.8 126.0 122.1 122.2
1961 99.6 103.6 122.0 NA NA 125.5 127.3 121.1 NA 129.4 107.8 126.3 124.1 121.1 120.5
1962 100.6 104.4 119.5 NA NA 125.8 128.3 120.9 NA 126.0 104.4 125.4 123.7 120.1 119.3
1963 100.9 104.7 118.6 NA NA 125.7 126.3 121.0 NA 124.4 104.9 125.0 123.1 118.8 119.2
1964 101.6 105.1 117.9 NA NA 125.3 127.4 120.3 NA 124.3 104.9 123.9 123.9 117.5 120.1
1965 102.7 105.2 115.9 NA NA 123.2 127.2 119.2 NA 123.9 101.4 123.5 121.1 116.6 118.4
1966 103.0 104.4 116.5 NA NA 122.2 124.8 119.8 NA 122.3 102.6 122.8 121.4 116.4 116.4
1967 101.2 104.5 116.7 NA NA 120.7 123.4 118.6 NA 119.0 104.0 122.3 120.2 114.5 115.5
1968 101.0 104.2 116.4 NA NA 120.7 120.6 115.3 NA 120.4 104.0 120.1 117.4 112.2 116.4
1969 100.2 103.9 114.8 NA NA 119.5 119.1 118.1 NA 120.6 103.3 118.4 114.7 110.2 116.4
1970 98.2 103.2 113.6 NA NA 116.3 115.3 116.7 NA 119.9 101.4 116.2 113.8 110.0 114.7
1971 98.4 102.8 111.8 NA NA 114.6 114.9 115.8 NA 117.3 98.6 115.1 112.7 109.7 111.9
1972 100.0 102.9 111.1 NA NA 112.0 112.4 114.6 NA 116.2 97.9 113.5 111.0 106.8 110.9
1973 99.9 102.1 110.1 NA 111.7 109.3 106.4 112.8 NA 115.2 99.1 111.3 110.3 104.9 112.3
1974 98.0 101.5 105.6 NA 107.3 106.4 108.5 111.3 NA 112.9 95.6 107.9 108.8 103.8 108.7
1975 96.6 100.2 103.2 NA 109.9 100.7 105.1 108.1 NA 110.1 94.0 105.9 108.1 101.8 108.4
1976 97.7 100.3 106.2 NA 110.5 102.6 105.6 108.4 NA 113.2 94.0 105.7 105.3 100.6 109.3
1977 98.1 100.3 106.5 NA 110.4 102.1 104.6 107.5 NA 111.5 93.5 105.2 103.5 99.8 110.0
1978 98.1 101.0 106.9 NA 109.6 101.9 103.4 106.5 NA 110.1 93.3 104.2 101.6 97.2 109.6
1979 97.5 100.5 107.6 NA 109.0 102.0 103.3 106.5 NA 109.7 92.6 103.0 99.8 95.8 109.1
1980 96.3 99.6 107.6 NA 109.3 100.4 104.0 106.4 NA 108.1 92.8 103.6 100.4 94.8 106.0
1981 96.4 98.7 106.8 NA 104.1 98.1 102.7 104.9 NA 106.8 92.8 104.1 100.5 95.3 103.9
1982 94.6 97.8 106.5 NA 103.9 100.2 104.2 100.8 NA 106.2 92.6 105.2 99.6 95.7 104.5
1983 97.2 99.1 106.6 NA 103.9 97.7 105.6 100.3 NA 106.4 92.6 105.3 100.1 96.9 104.3
1984 98.6 99.0 107.7 NA 104.8 97.1 105.3 100.4 NA 106.4 92.6 103.8 99.9 98.6 104.4
1985 98.7 99.6 107.3 110.6 101.7 98.5 101.8 99.8 NA 104.5 91.8 101.2 99.5 97.9 103.8
1986 98.6 100.1 106.7 112.6 103.5 98.6 104.2 100.0 NA 103.9 94.5 100.7 99.6 97.5 103.4
1987 99.1 100.9 107.2 110.7 103.6 99.4 101.8 100.7 NA 103.6 97.3 100.2 97.2 98.7 103.6
1988 100.0 103.0 108.3 108.0 102.3 101.1 101.8 101.2 NA 103.2 98.0 101.0 98.0 98.5 104.0
1989 100.0 100.7 107.1 103.9 100.8 100.6 100.6 101.0 NA 101.7 99.2 100.4 98.5 98.2 103.3
1990 99.4 100.2 105.6 102.3 99.9 101.8 99.4 100.5 NA 99.8 99.2 100.4 98.3 99.3 102.4
1991 98.7 99.8 103.2 101.4 100.0 100.0 99.7 99.5 96.3 99.1 100.1 100.1 98.9 99.2 100.0
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 101.3 101.0 97.9 100.2 100.0 98.5 99.2 99.9 97.6 97.0 98.4 99.9 100.3 102.6 100.8
1994 102.2 102.0 98.1 100.8 100.2 101.2 NA 99.9 98.4 97.1 101.9 100.0 100.5 107.3 100.8
1995 101.5 101.6 98.9 101.0 99.9 100.1 NA 99.3 98.4 96.5 103.8 100.2 99.6 108.0 102.0
1996 101.5 102.3 99.4 99.4 99.7 100.5 NA 99.4 96.2 95.0 102.5 100.1 99.0 107.8 102.2
1997 102.2 102.2 98.8 98.0 100.0 100.6 NA 99.1 96.3 95.2 103.9 99.7 98.9 107.5 102.1
1998 101.2 102.7 96.8 94.1 98.1 100.8 NA 98.9 96.6 96.2 103.2 99.5 99.2 107.6 101.6
1999 102.0 103.8 96.7 101.7 98.7 103.3 NA 98.3 96.2 NA 103.6 99.5 99.5 108.2 100.8
2000 101.0 103.6 98.3 100.3 98.5 103.4 NA 95.0 95.3 NA 104.1 99.4 98.5 107.7 100.4
2001 99.2 102.6 97.6 98.2 91.5 102.2 NA 92.9 94.2 NA 103.1 99.3 98.2 106.2 100.0
2002 98.9 103.0 97.5 97.5 93.0 99.8 NA 92.1 93.6 NA 102.9 99.3 97.0 104.5 100.8
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 25 -
Table 7. Hourly compensation in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 2.1 1.6 NA 3.4 0.9 3.0 2.2 1.9 1.5
1955 11.7 7.7 3.1 NA NA NA 2.8 2.9 NA 5.0 1.4 4.4 3.4 2.9 2.2
1960 14.9 10.0 4.3 NA NA 5.4 3.8 4.3 NA 8.1 1.8 6.2 4.7 4.1 2.9
1961 15.3 10.2 5.0 NA NA 5.7 4.3 4.8 NA 9.1 2.0 7.0 5.2 4.5 3.2
1962 15.9 10.6 5.7 NA NA 6.2 4.7 5.3 NA 10.3 2.3 7.5 5.7 5.0 3.3
1963 16.4 11.1 6.4 NA NA 6.8 5.1 5.8 NA 11.0 2.8 8.3 6.1 5.5 3.5
1964 17.0 11.5 7.2 NA NA 7.7 5.5 6.3 NA 11.9 2.9 9.6 6.5 6.0 3.7
1965 17.4 12.2 8.1 NA NA 8.5 6.2 6.8 NA 13.1 3.1 10.8 7.2 6.6 4.0
1966 18.2 13.1 8.9 NA NA 9.4 7.0 7.2 NA 14.2 3.3 12.1 7.8 7.3 4.4
1967 19.2 13.8 10.0 NA NA 10.3 7.8 7.7 NA 15.0 3.7 13.4 8.7 8.1 4.5
1968 20.7 14.7 11.7 NA NA 11.0 8.6 8.8 NA 16.1 3.9 14.9 9.6 8.7 4.8
1969 22.2 15.9 13.8 NA NA 12.1 9.7 9.3 NA 17.6 4.3 16.9 10.6 9.6 5.3
1970 23.7 17.1 16.4 NA NA 13.7 11.1 10.5 NA 20.7 5.3 19.4 11.8 10.7 6.1
1971 25.2 18.2 19.0 NA NA 15.9 12.8 11.8 NA 23.2 6.1 22.1 13.5 12.1 6.9
1972 26.5 19.5 21.9 NA NA 18.8 14.3 13.0 NA 25.6 6.7 25.4 15.2 13.5 8.0
1973 28.5 21.2 26.7 NA 9.5 22.3 17.5 14.9 NA 29.0 7.9 30.2 17.1 15.2 9.1
1974 31.6 24.6 35.1 NA 13.9 27.4 21.4 17.7 NA 33.0 10.3 36.0 20.1 17.9 11.0
1975 35.5 28.3 40.8 NA 14.9 33.1 25.7 21.6 NA 36.4 12.7 40.9 24.0 21.9 14.6
1976 38.4 32.5 44.0 NA 16.7 38.3 28.9 24.8 NA 39.1 15.8 45.7 27.7 25.7 16.9
1977 41.8 36.1 48.5 NA 18.2 41.4 32.2 28.1 NA 42.8 18.9 49.8 31.1 28.1 19.1
1978 45.2 38.8 51.7 NA 20.5 44.4 35.8 31.7 NA 45.9 21.5 53.7 34.1 31.1 22.3
1979 49.6 42.7 55.0 NA 24.3 47.2 40.4 35.9 NA 49.3 26.0 57.5 35.8 33.5 26.5
1980 55.6 47.6 58.5 NA 29.6 52.5 45.0 41.3 NA 53.6 30.4 60.5 39.0 37.3 32.1
1981 61.1 53.8 62.7 NA 38.0 57.3 50.0 48.0 NA 57.0 36.2 63.4 43.3 41.2 37.4
1982 67.0 61.0 65.8 NA 41.5 59.9 54.9 56.7 NA 60.4 42.2 67.0 48.2 44.2 41.2
1983 68.8 65.3 67.5 NA 43.3 65.7 59.4 62.6 NA 63.1 48.6 70.5 52.9 49.1 44.4
1984 71.2 69.0 69.6 NA 46.2 71.4 63.6 68.0 NA 66.0 55.7 73.5 57.9 53.2 48.2
1985 75.1 71.9 72.4 33.1 49.5 75.3 68.8 73.6 NA 70.0 63.1 77.5 63.4 58.6 52.9
1986 78.5 73.0 76.1 35.2 55.7 77.3 71.1 76.5 NA 72.8 65.9 80.4 69.1 63.4 57.6
1987 80.7 74.7 77.8 40.3 60.9 79.7 78.4 79.3 NA 76.0 69.4 84.7 78.4 67.7 64.3
1988 84.0 77.5 79.2 50.0 65.6 81.1 82.9 81.9 NA 79.1 74.6 85.3 83.3 71.8 68.7
1989 86.6 82.6 84.1 57.6 74.3 85.9 87.7 86.1 NA 83.2 80.9 86.8 87.2 79.4 73.8
1990 90.8 88.3 90.6 68.5 85.3 90.1 92.7 90.9 NA 89.4 87.6 89.8 92.3 87.8 82.9
1991 95.6 95.0 96.5 86.1 93.5 97.3 96.0 96.4 91.5 95.1 94.2 94.8 97.5 95.5 93.8
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 102.7 102.0 102.7 114.0 106.0 104.8 103.0 102.6 106.4 105.9 105.7 104.5 101.5 97.4 105.0
1994 105.6 103.7 104.7 129.5 111.1 106.1 NA 106.0 111.8 111.7 106.8 109.0 104.4 99.8 108.0
1995 107.9 106.0 108.3 158.1 120.3 109.2 NA 110.0 117.6 117.7 111.3 112.1 109.2 106.8 109.4
1996 109.4 107.0 109.1 184.1 128.2 111.0 NA 112.1 123.3 123.7 119.0 114.4 113.6 115.2 111.4
1997 111.5 109.3 112.6 197.7 132.3 115.2 NA 112.0 125.7 126.6 123.0 117.2 118.7 121.0 115.7
1998 117.4 110.5 115.4 214.8 140.2 116.9 NA 112.6 127.6 127.6 122.2 122.0 125.7 125.6 122.6
1999 122.1 112.3 114.8 211.1 144.0 118.4 NA 116.4 130.6 NA 124.2 126.0 133.0 130.3 129.7
2000 131.1 113.9 113.7 221.0 146.2 120.5 NA 120.8 137.2 NA 127.8 132.0 140.5 135.3 137.6
2001 134.3 117.8 114.5 236.5 149.4 126.7 NA 126.9 141.4 NA 132.4 138.9 148.2 139.8 143.8
2002 141.0 123.2 112.7 267.3 149.3 135.0 NA 130.9 144.5 NA 135.6 146.0 157.2 145.1 148.6
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
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 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 26 -
Table 8. Hourly compensation in manufacturing, U.S. dollar basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 1.8 2.5 NA 1.3 1.9 1.4 1.9 2.1 2.5
1955 11.7 9.5 1.1 NA NA NA 2.5 4.3 NA 1.9 2.7 2.0 2.9 3.3 3.5
1960 14.9 12.4 1.5 NA NA 3.5 3.4 4.7 NA 3.0 3.5 2.9 4.1 4.6 4.7
1961 15.3 12.2 1.8 NA NA 3.7 3.8 5.1 NA 3.5 3.9 3.4 4.5 5.0 5.0
1962 15.9 12.0 2.0 NA NA 4.0 4.1 5.7 NA 4.0 4.6 3.7 5.0 5.6 5.3
1963 16.4 12.4 2.2 NA NA 4.4 4.5 6.2 NA 4.3 5.5 4.0 5.3 6.2 5.5
1964 17.0 12.9 2.5 NA NA 5.0 4.8 6.8 NA 4.7 5.8 4.7 5.6 6.8 5.8
1965 17.4 13.7 2.8 NA NA 5.5 5.4 7.3 NA 5.1 6.2 5.3 6.2 7.5 6.4
1966 18.2 14.7 3.1 NA NA 6.1 6.1 7.7 NA 5.5 6.6 5.9 6.8 8.2 6.9
1967 19.2 15.4 3.5 NA NA 6.7 6.8 8.3 NA 5.9 7.3 6.5 7.6 9.1 7.0
1968 20.7 16.5 4.1 NA NA 7.1 7.0 9.4 NA 6.3 7.8 7.2 8.4 9.9 6.6
1969 22.2 17.9 4.9 NA NA 7.7 7.8 9.5 NA 7.0 8.5 8.2 9.3 10.8 7.1
1970 23.7 19.8 5.8 NA NA 8.9 8.9 10.0 NA 8.9 10.3 9.4 10.3 12.0 8.3
1971 25.2 21.7 6.9 NA NA 10.5 10.4 11.3 NA 10.4 12.1 11.1 11.9 13.8 9.6
1972 26.5 23.8 9.2 NA NA 13.7 12.4 13.6 NA 12.6 14.1 13.9 14.3 16.5 11.3
1973 28.5 25.6 12.5 NA 6.3 18.5 17.6 17.8 NA 17.1 16.7 19.1 18.5 20.3 12.7
1974 31.6 30.5 15.2 NA 9.2 22.6 21.2 19.5 NA 19.9 19.4 23.6 22.6 23.5 14.5
1975 35.5 33.7 17.5 NA 9.9 29.0 27.0 26.7 NA 23.1 23.9 28.5 28.6 30.8 18.4
1976 38.4 39.9 18.8 NA 11.0 31.9 28.9 27.4 NA 24.3 23.5 30.4 31.6 34.3 17.3
1977 41.8 41.1 23.0 NA 12.1 37.1 32.4 30.3 NA 28.8 26.4 35.7 36.3 36.7 18.9
1978 45.2 41.2 31.5 NA 13.9 45.4 39.3 37.3 NA 35.8 31.2 43.7 40.4 40.2 24.2
1979 49.6 44.0 32.0 NA 16.9 51.7 46.4 44.6 NA 42.0 38.6 50.4 43.9 45.5 31.8
1980 55.6 49.1 32.8 NA 20.7 57.7 48.2 51.7 NA 46.1 43.8 53.6 49.0 51.4 42.2
1981 61.1 54.2 36.0 NA 26.0 49.5 42.3 46.7 NA 39.3 39.1 44.6 46.9 47.3 42.8
1982 67.0 59.7 33.5 NA 26.7 42.1 39.7 45.6 NA 38.8 38.4 44.1 46.4 41.0 40.8
1983 68.8 64.0 36.0 NA 27.2 41.3 39.2 43.5 NA 38.6 39.4 43.4 45.0 37.2 38.1
1984 71.2 64.4 37.1 NA 29.3 39.7 37.1 41.2 NA 36.3 39.1 40.3 44.1 37.5 36.5
1985 75.1 63.6 38.5 30.2 31.2 40.8 39.2 43.4 NA 37.2 40.7 41.1 45.8 39.7 38.9
1986 78.5 63.5 57.3 31.2 37.0 55.6 53.0 58.5 NA 52.4 54.4 57.7 58.0 51.8 47.9
1987 80.7 68.1 68.2 38.3 48.3 68.6 69.2 69.8 NA 66.0 66.0 73.6 72.3 62.1 59.7
1988 84.0 76.2 78.3 53.5 57.7 70.9 74.3 72.8 NA 70.4 70.6 75.9 79.3 68.2 69.3
1989 86.6 84.3 77.2 67.0 70.8 70.1 72.3 71.4 NA 69.1 72.7 71.9 78.4 71.6 68.4
1990 90.8 91.5 79.2 75.6 79.7 86.6 90.4 88.3 NA 86.4 90.1 86.7 91.7 86.4 83.7
1991 95.6 100.1 90.9 91.7 87.9 91.5 90.5 90.4 86.1 89.4 93.5 89.1 93.3 91.9 93.9
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 102.7 95.5 117.2 111.0 100.9 97.4 95.9 95.8 100.4 100.0 82.8 98.9 88.8 72.8 89.3
1994 105.6 91.7 129.9 126.0 105.6 102.1 NA 101.1 107.6 107.6 81.7 105.4 91.9 75.3 93.7
1995 107.9 93.3 146.1 160.5 114.2 119.1 NA 116.8 128.3 128.3 84.2 122.8 107.1 87.1 97.8
1996 109.4 94.8 127.2 179.4 117.4 115.3 NA 116.0 128.0 128.4 95.0 119.3 109.3 100.1 98.4
1997 111.5 95.3 117.9 163.7 115.6 103.4 NA 101.5 113.2 114.0 88.9 105.6 104.1 92.2 107.2
1998 117.4 90.0 111.7 120.4 105.1 103.5 NA 101.0 113.3 113.3 86.7 108.2 103.4 92.0 115.0
1999 122.1 91.4 128.0 139.2 112.1 100.5 NA 100.0 111.1 NA 84.2 107.1 105.9 91.7 118.7
2000 131.1 92.6 133.7 153.4 117.7 88.6 NA 90.0 101.1 NA 75.1 97.3 99.1 85.9 118.0
2001 134.3 91.9 119.4 143.6 111.1 90.4 NA 91.7 101.1 NA 75.4 99.3 102.4 78.8 117.2
2002 141.0 94.8 114.1 167.7 108.8 101.7 NA 99.9 109.1 NA 81.6 110.1 122.3 86.9 126.4
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
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 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 27 -
Table 9. Unit labor costs in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 20.9 NA NA NA NA 9.8 13.4 NA 25.5 7.0 26.3 8.8 9.5 6.3
1955 NA 24.2 36.5 NA NA NA 12.2 18.8 NA 25.4 7.2 30.0 11.5 13.8 8.3
1960 NA 26.4 31.3 NA NA 30.1 13.6 21.8 NA 27.8 7.5 32.9 12.6 15.0 9.8
1961 NA 25.7 32.1 NA NA 31.5 14.5 22.6 NA 29.7 7.7 35.5 13.3 15.6 10.5
1962 NA 24.8 35.0 NA NA 32.1 15.1 23.5 NA 31.5 8.2 36.6 14.6 16.2 10.8
1963 NA 24.9 36.1 NA NA 34.2 15.9 24.3 NA 32.2 9.5 38.8 14.8 16.9 10.7
1964 NA 24.9 35.8 NA NA 36.3 15.9 24.5 NA 32.1 10.0 41.1 15.0 16.9 10.7
1965 NA 25.1 38.7 NA NA 38.3 16.8 24.9 NA 33.3 9.6 43.2 15.7 17.4 11.4
1966 NA 26.5 38.9 NA NA 39.6 18.2 24.4 NA 34.7 9.4 45.4 16.4 18.2 11.9
1967 NA 27.6 38.5 NA NA 40.9 18.9 24.7 NA 34.5 9.9 46.8 17.7 18.6 11.7
1968 NA 27.9 40.0 NA NA 40.3 19.4 25.3 NA 34.3 9.8 46.4 18.4 18.5 11.7
1969 NA 28.8 41.4 NA NA 40.4 20.8 25.4 NA 35.0 10.4 47.9 18.5 18.8 12.5
1970 NA 31.1 43.8 NA 23.8 41.7 22.4 26.9 NA 39.8 11.9 50.4 20.0 20.6 14.1
1971 NA 31.2 47.8 NA 24.8 45.2 24.2 28.6 NA 42.9 13.5 54.1 22.2 22.2 15.3
1972 NA 31.8 50.2 NA 24.9 47.9 24.9 30.1 NA 44.7 13.9 57.7 23.7 23.6 16.7
1973 NA 32.6 56.2 NA 28.8 51.2 27.6 32.3 NA 47.5 15.1 61.9 25.2 24.8 17.8
1974 NA 37.2 71.9 NA 43.5 59.9 32.8 37.5 NA 52.1 18.6 68.7 28.4 27.9 21.0
1975 NA 44.7 81.4 NA 44.2 69.5 36.3 44.2 NA 55.2 24.2 79.2 34.3 33.7 28.6
1976 NA 47.3 82.7 NA 45.5 73.1 38.8 47.8 NA 55.4 26.4 79.9 38.8 38.9 31.7
1977 61.2 49.9 87.7 NA 47.3 75.3 41.7 51.3 NA 58.8 30.7 80.4 42.9 43.3 35.5
1978 65.3 52.6 89.9 NA 47.4 76.1 45.0 55.3 NA 61.1 33.1 83.2 46.1 46.6 40.9
1979 70.7 57.8 88.4 NA 53.8 76.8 48.5 60.4 NA 62.9 36.6 85.3 45.1 46.6 48.2
1980 78.8 65.2 92.6 NA 62.2 80.3 52.2 67.2 NA 69.4 41.0 87.6 50.0 51.0 59.0
1981 82.4 70.4 96.0 NA 72.1 81.7 57.3 73.8 NA 72.4 49.0 88.4 55.8 56.6 65.4
1982 87.9 79.1 96.8 NA 76.8 81.5 62.1 81.4 NA 76.7 57.0 92.7 59.6 58.7 68.5
1983 86.0 79.7 98.1 NA 75.2 81.1 63.5 85.4 NA 76.4 64.2 90.9 63.3 60.7 68.2
1984 85.6 77.8 97.8 NA 78.1 84.0 67.4 89.8 NA 77.3 67.9 86.2 65.3 62.5 70.4
1985 87.3 78.9 94.7 60.4 81.3 86.5 71.7 92.2 NA 78.6 72.2 87.6 69.2 68.0 74.4
1986 91.2 83.3 99.9 59.8 83.5 88.0 77.4 92.9 NA 81.2 74.9 89.6 76.5 72.5 77.9
1987 86.9 85.1 97.0 63.8 83.7 89.7 85.7 94.4 NA 86.3 77.8 93.7 82.8 75.8 82.3
1988 86.7 86.6 94.3 72.8 85.9 88.1 88.1 92.7 NA 86.5 79.4 92.4 89.0 79.4 83.3
1989 90.5 89.3 94.9 78.7 89.5 88.7 87.5 93.4 NA 87.9 84.8 90.0 90.8 85.1 85.6
1990 93.7 94.6 95.9 84.2 95.9 93.0 93.5 96.9 NA 90.3 91.5 91.1 94.2 92.9 92.9
1991 97.6 99.6 97.4 94.1 96.8 98.1 96.5 99.4 93.1 93.3 98.2 95.7 99.2 100.0 100.0
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 100.6 96.4 101.0 105.4 103.0 102.3 103.7 101.9 104.5 105.3 104.3 102.4 101.9 90.8 100.7
1994 98.5 93.6 101.4 109.8 104.1 97.9 96.2 97.9 102.0 103.6 101.9 96.4 104.8 84.7 99.6
1995 94.8 94.3 97.6 122.4 104.5 96.4 96.4 96.7 104.7 105.9 103.0 95.6 108.4 85.8 102.8
1996 93.5 97.5 94.0 129.1 104.1 94.7 103.2 97.9 107.5 107.5 110.0 95.9 110.8 89.0 105.5
1997 91.9 96.2 93.0 121.0 102.3 90.7 99.4 91.9 104.5 103.9 111.9 96.5 116.4 85.8 108.2
1998 92.8 97.7 95.2 117.4 103.2 90.4 102.8 88.1 104.6 100.4 111.1 98.3 125.7 84.0 112.8
1999 91.3 96.8 90.6 104.4 100.7 91.9 103.7 87.5 107.6 NA 113.2 99.1 128.4 80.1 114.4
2000 92.3 96.1 83.6 101.5 97.1 90.4 102.5 84.3 108.3 NA 113.4 99.5 131.9 74.7 114.5
2001 94.1 101.5 85.6 109.5 93.3 93.9 101.4 85.0 110.1 NA 115.5 105.0 136.1 76.6 116.7
2002 92.8 104.6 80.1 115.4 87.4 94.1 101.8 85.4 110.0 NA 120.1 109.7 141.8 73.8 120.1
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
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 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 28 -
Table 10. Unit labor costs in manufacturing, U.S. dollar basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 23.1 NA NA NA NA 8.5 20.3 NA 9.5 13.8 12.2 7.7 10.7 10.0
1955 NA 29.7 12.8 NA NA NA 10.7 28.5 NA 9.4 14.1 13.9 10.0 15.5 13.2
1960 NA 32.9 11.0 NA NA 19.4 12.0 23.5 NA 10.4 15.0 15.3 11.0 16.9 15.6
1961 NA 30.6 11.3 NA NA 20.3 12.7 24.4 NA 11.6 15.3 17.2 11.6 17.6 16.6
1962 NA 28.1 12.3 NA NA 20.7 13.2 25.4 NA 12.3 16.3 17.9 12.7 18.3 17.1
1963 NA 27.8 12.7 NA NA 22.0 13.9 26.3 NA 12.6 18.8 18.9 12.9 18.9 17.0
1964 NA 27.9 12.5 NA NA 23.5 13.9 26.5 NA 12.6 19.8 20.0 13.0 19.1 16.9
1965 NA 28.2 13.6 NA NA 24.8 14.7 26.9 NA 13.0 19.0 21.1 13.6 19.6 18.0
1966 NA 29.7 13.6 NA NA 25.6 15.9 26.2 NA 13.6 18.6 22.0 14.3 20.6 18.8
1967 NA 30.9 13.5 NA NA 26.5 16.3 26.5 NA 13.5 19.6 22.8 15.4 21.0 18.3
1968 NA 31.3 14.1 NA NA 25.9 15.7 27.1 NA 13.4 19.4 22.5 16.0 20.9 15.9
1969 NA 32.3 14.6 NA NA 25.9 16.7 25.9 NA 13.9 20.4 23.2 16.1 21.1 16.9
1970 NA 36.0 15.5 NA 14.9 27.0 18.0 25.8 NA 17.1 23.3 24.5 17.4 23.1 19.1
1971 NA 37.3 17.4 NA 15.6 29.9 19.8 27.4 NA 19.3 26.9 27.3 19.6 25.3 21.2
1972 NA 38.8 21.0 NA 15.7 35.0 21.6 31.6 NA 21.9 29.4 31.6 22.4 28.9 23.7
1973 NA 39.3 26.3 NA 18.9 42.4 27.7 38.5 NA 28.0 32.0 39.2 27.2 33.1 24.7
1974 NA 46.0 31.3 NA 28.8 49.5 32.5 41.3 NA 31.5 35.2 45.0 32.0 36.7 27.9
1975 NA 53.1 34.8 NA 29.3 60.9 38.2 54.7 NA 35.1 45.7 55.2 40.9 47.4 35.9
1976 NA 58.0 35.4 NA 30.1 60.9 38.8 53.0 NA 34.4 39.2 53.2 44.1 52.0 32.4
1977 61.2 56.7 41.5 NA 31.3 67.6 42.0 55.2 NA 39.6 42.8 57.7 50.0 56.4 35.1
1978 65.3 55.8 54.7 NA 32.2 77.8 49.3 65.1 NA 47.6 48.1 67.7 54.7 60.1 44.4
1979 70.7 59.6 51.4 NA 37.5 84.2 55.7 75.2 NA 53.6 54.3 74.8 55.4 63.3 57.9
1980 78.8 67.4 51.8 NA 43.4 88.3 55.9 84.2 NA 59.6 59.0 77.5 62.9 70.2 77.7
1981 82.4 70.9 55.2 NA 49.2 70.6 48.4 71.8 NA 49.9 53.1 62.2 60.4 65.1 75.0
1982 87.9 77.5 49.3 NA 49.4 57.2 44.9 65.5 NA 49.3 51.9 61.0 57.4 54.4 67.8
1983 86.0 78.1 52.4 NA 47.2 51.0 41.9 59.3 NA 46.7 52.1 56.0 53.8 46.1 58.6
1984 85.6 72.5 52.2 NA 49.6 46.8 39.3 54.4 NA 42.4 47.7 47.2 49.7 44.0 53.3
1985 87.3 69.8 50.3 55.0 51.3 46.9 40.9 54.3 NA 41.7 46.6 46.4 50.0 46.1 54.7
1986 91.2 72.4 75.3 53.0 55.6 63.4 57.7 71.0 NA 58.5 61.9 64.4 64.3 59.2 64.7
1987 86.9 77.6 85.1 60.6 66.3 77.2 75.5 83.1 NA 74.9 73.9 81.3 76.4 69.6 76.4
1988 86.7 85.0 93.3 77.8 75.5 77.0 78.9 82.3 NA 76.9 75.2 82.2 84.8 75.4 84.0
1989 90.5 91.1 87.2 91.6 85.2 72.3 72.1 77.5 NA 73.0 76.1 74.6 81.7 76.8 79.4
1990 93.7 98.0 83.9 93.0 89.7 89.5 91.2 94.2 NA 87.3 94.1 87.9 93.6 91.3 93.8
1991 97.6 105.1 91.8 100.3 91.1 92.3 91.0 93.2 87.5 87.8 97.5 90.0 95.0 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 100.6 90.3 115.3 102.7 98.1 95.1 96.5 95.2 98.7 99.4 81.6 96.9 89.2 67.8 85.6
1994 98.5 82.8 125.8 106.8 99.0 94.2 91.4 93.4 98.2 99.8 77.9 93.2 92.3 64.0 86.4
1995 94.8 83.0 131.6 124.3 99.2 105.2 104.0 102.6 114.2 115.5 77.9 104.8 106.4 70.0 91.9
1996 93.5 86.4 109.5 125.9 95.4 98.3 107.5 101.3 111.6 111.6 87.9 100.0 106.6 77.3 93.2
1997 91.9 84.0 97.4 100.2 89.5 81.4 90.8 83.3 94.0 93.5 80.9 87.0 102.1 65.4 100.3
1998 92.8 79.6 92.2 65.8 77.4 80.0 92.6 79.1 92.9 89.1 78.8 87.2 103.5 61.5 105.9
1999 91.3 78.8 101.0 68.8 78.3 78.0 89.5 75.2 91.6 NA 76.7 84.3 102.2 56.4 104.7
2000 92.3 78.2 98.4 70.4 78.1 66.5 76.5 62.8 79.8 NA 66.6 73.3 93.0 47.5 98.3
2001 94.1 79.2 89.3 66.5 69.4 67.0 73.4 61.4 78.7 NA 65.8 75.0 94.0 43.1 95.1
2002 92.8 80.5 81.1 72.4 63.7 70.9 77.9 65.1 83.0 NA 72.2 82.8 110.3 44.2 102.1
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
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 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 29 -
Table 11. Exchange rates, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002 (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 82.8 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
2001 100.0 78.0 104.3 60.7 74.4 71.3 72.5 72.2 71.5 NA 57.0 71.4 69.1 56.3 81.5
2002 100.0 77.0 101.2 62.8 72.9 75.3 76.6 76.3 75.5 NA 60.2 75.4 77.8 59.9 85.1
NA: Not Available
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 30 -
Table 12. Average annual compensation in manufacturing, national currency basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 2.9 2.0 NA 4.9 1.0 3.9 2.9 2.4 1.9
1955 11.8 8.1 3.8 NA NA NA 3.9 3.4 NA 7.3 1.5 5.7 4.4 3.8 2.8
1960 14.8 10.4 5.3 NA NA 6.8 5.0 5.2 NA 10.7 1.9 8.1 6.0 5.0 3.6
1961 15.2 10.6 6.1 NA NA 7.2 5.5 5.8 NA 11.8 2.1 8.9 6.4 5.4 3.8
1962 16.0 11.1 6.9 NA NA 7.8 6.1 6.4 NA 13.0 2.4 9.4 7.0 6.0 4.0
1963 16.5 11.6 7.6 NA NA 8.6 6.5 7.0 NA 13.7 2.9 10.4 7.5 6.6 4.1
1964 17.3 12.1 8.5 NA NA 9.6 7.1 7.5 NA 14.8 3.1 11.9 8.0 7.1 4.4
1965 17.9 12.8 9.4 NA NA 10.5 7.8 8.1 NA 16.2 3.2 13.3 8.7 7.7 4.8
1966 18.8 13.7 10.4 NA NA 11.5 8.7 8.6 NA 17.4 3.4 14.8 9.5 8.5 5.1
1967 19.4 14.4 11.7 NA NA 12.4 9.7 9.2 NA 17.8 3.8 16.3 10.5 9.2 5.2
1968 20.9 15.4 13.6 NA NA 13.3 10.4 10.1 NA 19.4 4.1 17.9 11.3 9.8 5.6
1969 22.2 16.5 15.9 NA NA 14.4 11.6 11.0 NA 21.3 4.5 20.0 12.2 10.5 6.1
1970 23.3 17.6 18.7 NA NA 16.0 12.7 12.2 NA 24.8 5.3 22.5 13.4 11.8 7.0
1971 24.8 18.7 21.3 NA NA 18.2 14.7 13.6 NA 27.2 6.0 25.4 15.2 13.3 7.8
1972 26.5 20.1 24.3 NA NA 21.0 16.1 14.9 NA 29.8 6.5 28.8 16.8 14.4 8.9
1973 28.5 21.7 29.5 NA 10.6 24.3 18.7 16.8 NA 33.4 7.8 33.6 18.9 16.0 10.3
1974 31.0 25.0 37.0 NA 15.0 29.2 23.2 19.7 NA 37.2 9.8 38.8 21.8 18.6 11.9
1975 34.3 28.4 42.1 NA 16.4 33.3 27.0 23.3 NA 40.0 11.9 43.3 25.9 22.3 15.8
1976 37.6 32.7 46.7 NA 18.4 39.3 30.5 26.8 NA 44.3 14.9 48.3 29.2 25.8 18.5
1977 41.0 36.2 51.7 NA 20.1 42.3 33.7 30.2 NA 47.7 17.7 52.4 32.2 28.1 21.0
1978 44.3 39.2 55.3 NA 22.5 45.2 37.0 33.8 NA 50.6 20.1 56.0 34.6 30.3 24.4
1979 48.4 42.9 59.2 NA 26.5 48.1 41.8 38.2 NA 54.1 24.1 59.2 35.7 32.1 28.9
1980 53.5 47.3 63.0 NA 32.4 52.7 46.8 43.9 NA 57.9 28.2 62.7 39.1 35.3 34.0
1981 58.8 53.1 66.9 NA 39.6 56.1 51.3 50.3 NA 60.9 33.6 66.0 43.5 39.2 38.8
1982 63.3 59.7 70.0 NA 43.1 60.0 57.2 57.2 NA 64.1 39.0 70.5 48.0 42.3 43.1
1983 66.9 64.7 72.0 NA 44.9 64.2 62.7 62.8 NA 67.2 45.0 74.3 53.0 47.5 46.3
1984 70.2 68.3 74.9 NA 48.4 69.3 67.0 68.3 NA 70.3 51.5 76.4 57.9 52.5 50.3
1985 74.1 71.6 77.7 36.7 50.4 74.1 70.0 73.4 NA 73.1 57.9 78.5 63.1 57.4 54.9
1986 77.4 73.0 81.2 39.6 57.6 76.2 74.0 76.6 NA 75.6 62.3 81.0 68.8 61.8 59.6
1987 80.0 75.4 83.4 44.6 63.1 79.2 79.8 79.8 NA 78.8 67.6 84.9 76.2 66.8 66.6
1988 84.0 79.9 85.7 54.0 67.1 81.9 84.4 82.9 NA 81.7 73.1 86.1 81.6 70.7 71.5
1989 86.7 83.2 90.0 59.9 75.0 86.4 88.2 87.0 NA 84.6 80.3 87.1 85.9 77.9 76.2
1990 90.2 88.5 95.6 70.0 85.2 91.7 92.1 91.3 NA 89.2 86.9 90.2 90.8 87.2 84.8
1991 94.3 94.8 99.6 87.3 93.5 97.3 95.6 95.9 88.2 94.3 94.3 94.9 96.4 94.7 93.8
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 104.1 103.0 100.6 114.2 106.0 103.2 102.2 102.4 103.9 102.8 104.0 104.4 101.8 99.9 105.8
1994 108.0 105.8 102.8 130.6 111.4 107.4 106.0 105.9 109.9 108.5 108.8 109.0 104.9 107.1 108.9
1995 109.5 107.6 107.0 159.7 120.1 109.2 109.7 109.3 115.8 113.6 115.6 112.3 108.7 115.4 111.6
1996 111.0 109.5 108.5 182.9 127.7 111.6 112.1 111.4 118.6 117.6 122.0 114.5 112.5 124.2 113.8
1997 113.9 111.7 111.3 193.8 132.3 115.8 117.3 111.0 121.0 120.5 127.7 116.8 117.3 130.1 118.1
1998 118.8 113.5 111.7 202.2 137.5 117.8 120.6 111.4 123.3 122.8 126.1 121.4 124.6 135.1 124.5
1999 124.5 116.6 111.0 214.6 142.1 122.3 125.7 114.4 125.6 NA 128.6 125.3 132.4 140.9 130.7
2000 132.5 118.0 111.7 221.7 144.1 124.6 130.8 114.8 130.7 NA 133.0 131.2 138.4 145.7 138.2
2001 133.2 120.9 111.7 232.2 136.7 129.6 136.5 117.9 133.1 NA 136.6 138.0 145.6 148.5 143.9
2002 139.5 127.0 109.9 260.6 138.9 134.7 143.0 120.5 135.3 NA 139.6 144.9 152.4 151.6 149.7
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
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 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 30 -
Table 13. Real hourly compensation in manufacturing, CPI basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 46.6 37.0 NA NA NA NA 23.9 20.1 NA 11.7 19.1 16.6 26.3 25.3 25.6
1955 56.4 46.5 18.2 NA NA NA 26.6 27.1 NA 15.9 22.3 20.5 29.5 30.5 28.0
1960 65.0 54.6 23.1 NA NA 24.5 32.3 30.6 NA 23.6 26.8 25.5 36.4 35.4 32.8
1961 66.3 55.5 25.6 NA NA 25.7 34.8 32.7 NA 25.8 29.0 28.8 38.7 37.9 33.9
1962 68.1 56.9 27.3 NA NA 27.2 35.5 34.6 NA 28.4 32.7 30.0 40.4 40.4 34.2
1963 69.3 58.3 28.4 NA NA 29.4 36.6 36.0 NA 29.4 36.1 32.0 42.0 43.4 35.0
1964 71.2 59.6 30.7 NA NA 31.9 38.2 37.8 NA 31.1 36.3 35.1 42.5 45.7 36.2
1965 71.6 61.7 32.1 NA NA 34.0 39.8 40.0 NA 33.0 37.2 37.8 45.0 48.1 37.8
1966 72.8 63.8 33.7 NA NA 36.0 42.4 41.2 NA 34.7 38.7 40.0 47.6 49.5 39.3
1967 74.4 64.9 36.3 NA NA 38.3 44.2 43.2 NA 36.1 41.2 42.9 51.0 52.6 40.3
1968 76.9 66.6 40.1 NA NA 39.8 45.0 47.1 NA 38.3 43.3 46.0 54.3 56.0 41.4
1969 78.2 68.9 45.2 NA NA 42.0 49.0 48.3 NA 41.0 46.3 48.6 58.1 58.9 42.6
1970 79.2 71.5 49.9 NA NA 46.1 52.4 51.7 NA 46.7 53.7 53.8 58.3 61.8 46.1
1971 80.5 73.9 54.3 NA NA 51.0 57.4 55.0 NA 49.8 59.1 57.0 62.9 64.1 47.9
1972 82.0 75.7 59.6 NA NA 57.2 60.2 57.2 NA 52.3 61.5 60.7 65.8 67.5 51.6
1973 83.1 76.6 65.3 NA 32.7 63.5 67.4 61.0 NA 55.4 65.7 66.7 69.0 69.8 53.8
1974 83.1 80.2 69.4 NA 32.5 69.3 71.3 63.7 NA 58.9 71.7 72.4 74.0 74.8 55.7
1975 85.4 83.2 72.4 NA 33.0 74.3 78.1 69.5 NA 61.2 75.7 74.9 79.1 83.6 59.8
1976 87.5 88.8 71.3 NA 36.0 78.8 80.7 72.6 NA 63.1 80.9 76.8 83.9 88.4 59.5
1977 89.3 91.2 72.7 NA 36.8 79.4 81.1 75.4 NA 66.7 82.7 78.6 86.3 86.1 57.9
1978 90.3 89.9 74.4 NA 39.2 81.5 81.8 77.8 NA 69.9 83.9 81.4 87.4 88.9 62.1
1979 90.6 90.6 76.3 NA 42.2 82.9 84.2 79.5 NA 72.2 88.5 83.5 87.6 89.9 64.9
1980 91.4 91.6 75.3 NA 43.3 86.5 83.4 80.6 NA 74.6 85.3 82.2 86.0 87.7 66.7
1981 91.9 92.0 76.8 NA 47.8 87.7 83.0 82.6 NA 74.6 86.1 80.6 84.1 86.3 69.8
1982 95.1 94.1 78.5 NA 50.7 84.4 82.7 87.3 NA 75.0 86.2 80.6 84.1 85.1 70.5
1983 93.9 95.2 79.1 NA 52.1 86.0 83.8 88.0 NA 76.0 86.6 82.6 85.1 84.5 72.6
1984 93.4 96.4 79.7 NA 55.6 87.8 84.4 88.9 NA 77.6 89.6 83.4 87.7 85.2 74.9
1985 95.3 96.6 81.3 50.1 59.8 88.3 87.1 90.7 NA 80.7 93.0 86.0 90.8 87.4 77.5
1986 97.8 94.1 84.9 51.8 66.7 89.6 86.9 91.9 NA 84.0 91.7 89.0 92.4 90.4 81.6
1987 97.3 92.3 86.8 57.5 72.6 90.9 92.2 92.3 NA 87.7 92.2 94.2 96.4 92.4 87.4
1988 97.7 92.1 87.6 66.7 77.2 91.4 93.2 93.0 NA 90.3 94.4 94.0 96.0 94.1 89.1
1989 96.6 93.4 91.0 72.7 83.8 94.0 94.1 94.3 NA 92.3 96.3 94.7 96.1 98.3 88.7
1990 96.4 94.7 95.1 79.6 92.3 95.2 96.9 96.3 NA 96.6 98.0 95.6 97.7 97.6 91.0
1991 98.0 96.3 98.0 91.5 97.7 99.7 98.0 99.0 96.2 99.0 99.1 97.9 99.8 97.3 97.3
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 100.3 100.2 101.4 108.7 102.9 102.0 101.7 100.5 101.9 102.1 101.2 101.8 99.2 95.3 103.3
1994 101.0 101.6 102.7 116.4 103.7 100.9 NA 102.1 104.3 104.8 98.3 103.4 100.6 95.6 103.8
1995 100.7 101.7 106.3 136.0 108.3 102.3 NA 104.2 107.8 108.6 97.4 104.2 102.7 97.8 101.7
1996 99.4 101.1 107.0 150.8 111.9 101.9 NA 104.1 111.4 112.7 100.1 104.3 105.6 104.4 101.0
1997 99.2 101.6 108.4 155.2 114.5 104.0 NA 102.7 111.5 113.3 101.4 104.6 107.5 108.4 101.7
1998 103.0 101.4 110.5 156.8 119.3 104.6 NA 102.6 112.1 113.3 98.8 106.8 111.3 111.7 104.2
1999 104.9 101.3 110.3 152.8 122.3 104.7 NA 105.5 114.0 NA 98.8 107.9 115.2 112.1 108.6
2000 109.0 99.9 109.9 156.5 122.7 103.9 NA 107.7 118.1 NA 99.1 110.2 118.0 119.1 111.9
2001 108.6 100.8 111.5 160.9 125.4 106.7 NA 111.3 119.3 NA 99.9 111.0 120.8 120.4 115.0
2002 112.3 103.3 110.7 177.0 125.6 111.8 NA 112.6 120.4 NA 99.9 112.6 126.5 122.2 116.8
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 32 -
Table 14. Real average annual compensation in manufacturing, CPI basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 47.3 40.3 NA NA NA NA 33.6 24.3 NA 17.1 20.1 21.5 34.4 32.8 31.5
1955 57.2 48.7 21.7 NA NA NA 36.8 32.6 NA 23.3 24.0 26.8 38.6 39.4 34.9
1960 64.7 56.8 28.6 NA NA 30.8 42.4 36.9 NA 31.0 29.2 33.7 45.8 43.2 40.1
1961 66.0 57.5 31.2 NA NA 32.2 44.3 39.7 NA 33.4 31.3 36.4 48.1 45.9 40.9
1962 68.5 59.4 32.7 NA NA 34.2 45.5 41.8 NA 35.8 34.1 37.7 49.9 48.5 40.8
1963 69.9 61.0 33.6 NA NA 37.0 46.3 43.5 NA 36.5 37.8 40.1 51.8 51.5 41.8
1964 72.4 62.7 36.2 NA NA 39.9 48.7 45.5 NA 38.7 38.1 43.4 52.7 53.7 43.5
1965 73.5 64.9 37.3 NA NA 41.9 50.7 47.7 NA 40.9 37.8 46.7 54.5 56.0 44.8
1966 75.0 66.6 39.3 NA NA 44.0 53.0 49.4 NA 42.4 39.7 49.2 57.8 57.6 45.8
1967 75.3 67.8 42.4 NA NA 46.2 54.5 51.3 NA 42.9 42.8 52.4 61.3 60.3 46.6
1968 77.7 69.4 46.7 NA NA 48.1 54.3 54.3 NA 46.1 45.0 55.3 63.7 62.9 48.2
1969 78.4 71.5 51.9 NA NA 50.2 58.4 57.1 NA 49.5 47.9 57.5 66.6 64.9 49.6
1970 77.8 73.7 56.7 NA NA 53.6 60.4 60.4 NA 56.0 54.5 62.6 66.4 68.0 52.8
1971 79.2 76.0 60.7 NA NA 58.5 65.9 63.7 NA 58.4 58.3 65.6 70.8 70.3 53.6
1972 82.1 77.9 66.2 NA NA 64.1 67.7 65.5 NA 60.7 60.2 68.9 73.0 72.1 57.2
1973 83.0 78.3 71.9 NA 36.5 69.4 71.7 68.8 NA 63.8 65.1 74.2 76.1 73.2 60.4
1974 81.5 81.4 73.3 NA 34.9 73.8 77.4 71.0 NA 66.5 68.6 78.1 80.5 77.6 60.5
1975 82.5 83.4 74.7 NA 36.3 74.8 82.1 75.1 NA 67.4 71.1 79.3 85.6 85.1 64.8
1976 85.5 89.1 75.7 NA 39.8 80.8 85.2 78.8 NA 71.4 76.0 81.2 88.3 89.0 65.0
1977 87.6 91.4 77.4 NA 40.6 81.1 84.8 81.0 NA 74.3 77.3 82.7 89.3 86.0 63.7
1978 88.6 90.8 79.5 NA 43.0 83.1 84.6 82.9 NA 76.9 78.3 84.8 88.7 86.5 68.0
1979 88.4 91.1 82.1 NA 46.0 84.6 87.0 84.7 NA 79.2 81.9 86.0 87.4 86.1 70.8
1980 88.1 91.2 81.0 NA 47.4 86.9 86.7 85.8 NA 80.6 79.2 85.1 86.3 83.1 70.7
1981 88.5 90.8 82.1 NA 49.8 86.0 85.2 86.7 NA 79.7 79.9 83.9 84.6 82.2 72.5
1982 90.0 92.0 83.5 NA 52.7 84.5 86.2 88.0 NA 79.7 79.8 84.8 83.8 81.4 73.6
1983 91.2 94.3 84.4 NA 54.1 84.0 88.5 88.2 NA 80.8 80.2 87.0 85.2 81.8 75.7
1984 92.1 95.4 85.8 NA 58.3 85.3 88.9 89.2 NA 82.6 82.9 86.6 87.6 84.0 78.1
1985 94.0 96.2 87.2 55.5 60.8 87.0 88.7 90.5 NA 84.3 85.3 87.1 90.4 85.5 80.4
1986 96.4 94.2 90.6 58.3 69.0 88.3 90.5 92.0 NA 87.3 86.7 89.7 92.0 88.1 84.4
1987 96.5 93.2 93.0 63.7 75.2 90.4 93.8 92.9 NA 90.9 89.8 94.4 93.7 91.2 90.5
1988 97.7 94.9 94.9 72.0 79.0 92.4 94.9 94.1 NA 93.2 92.5 94.9 94.0 92.7 92.6
1989 96.6 94.1 97.4 75.6 84.5 94.5 94.6 95.3 NA 93.9 95.6 95.1 94.7 96.5 91.7
1990 95.9 94.9 100.4 81.4 92.2 96.9 96.3 96.8 NA 96.4 97.2 95.9 96.1 96.9 93.2
1991 96.7 96.1 101.2 92.8 97.7 99.7 97.6 98.5 92.7 98.2 99.2 98.0 98.7 96.6 97.3
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 101.6 101.2 99.3 109.0 102.9 100.5 100.9 100.4 99.5 99.1 99.6 101.7 99.5 97.7 104.2
1994 103.2 103.6 100.7 117.3 103.9 102.1 102.7 102.0 102.5 101.7 100.2 103.4 101.1 102.5 104.6
1995 102.2 103.3 105.0 137.4 108.1 102.3 104.0 103.5 106.1 104.9 101.1 104.4 102.3 105.7 103.6
1996 100.8 103.4 106.3 149.9 111.5 102.4 104.1 103.4 107.2 107.1 102.6 104.4 104.6 112.6 103.2
1997 101.3 103.8 107.1 152.1 114.5 104.6 106.6 101.8 107.3 107.9 105.3 104.3 106.3 116.5 103.8
1998 104.3 104.2 106.9 147.6 117.0 105.4 107.6 101.5 108.4 109.0 101.9 106.2 110.4 120.2 105.9
1999 107.0 105.1 106.6 155.4 120.7 108.2 109.5 103.7 109.7 NA 102.3 107.3 114.6 121.3 109.4
2000 110.2 103.6 108.0 157.0 120.9 107.5 110.6 102.3 112.5 NA 103.2 109.6 116.2 128.2 112.4
2001 107.8 103.5 108.8 157.9 114.7 109.1 112.8 103.4 112.4 NA 103.1 110.2 118.7 127.9 115.0
2002 111.1 106.4 108.0 172.6 116.8 111.6 115.5 103.7 112.7 NA 102.8 111.8 122.7 127.8 117.7
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
- 33 -
Table 15. Total labor compensation in manufacturing, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(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 2.8 2.2 NA 3.7 0.7 4.4 3.4 2.9 3.1
1955 11.0 6.9 1.8 NA NA NA 3.9 3.9 NA 7.0 1.1 6.9 5.5 4.9 4.9
1960 13.7 8.8 3.4 NA NA 9.2 6.1 6.1 NA 11.6 1.7 10.5 7.3 6.9 6.6
1961 13.7 8.9 4.1 NA NA 10.1 6.8 6.8 NA 13.1 2.0 11.7 8.0 7.7 7.1
1962 14.8 9.6 4.9 NA NA 11.1 7.7 7.6 NA 14.5 2.3 12.7 8.9 8.5 7.3
1963 15.4 10.2 5.6 NA NA 12.4 8.2 8.4 NA 15.2 2.8 14.0 9.5 9.3 7.5
1964 16.4 11.2 6.5 NA NA 14.3 9.1 9.3 NA 16.4 3.0 16.2 10.3 10.2 8.2
1965 17.8 12.4 7.3 NA NA 15.6 10.3 9.9 NA 18.3 3.1 18.3 11.3 11.2 9.0
1966 19.8 14.0 8.3 NA NA 17.1 11.4 10.6 NA 19.4 3.3 20.2 12.6 12.1 9.5
1967 20.7 14.9 9.8 NA NA 17.9 12.0 11.2 NA 18.9 3.8 21.6 14.0 12.8 9.5
1968 22.6 15.9 11.8 NA NA 18.8 13.1 12.1 NA 20.7 4.1 23.5 14.9 13.4 10.1
1969 24.6 17.5 14.2 NA NA 21.1 14.9 13.6 NA 23.6 4.6 26.6 16.1 14.6 11.2
1970 24.8 18.3 17.2 NA 3.0 24.0 16.5 15.5 NA 28.2 5.7 30.1 18.2 16.6 12.7
1971 25.3 19.5 19.6 NA 3.9 27.2 18.2 17.5 NA 30.7 6.6 33.5 20.8 18.0 13.7
1972 27.8 21.6 22.4 NA 4.7 31.0 20.3 19.3 NA 33.0 7.2 36.6 23.2 19.3 15.3
1973 31.5 24.4 28.3 NA 6.4 36.1 23.6 22.3 NA 37.3 8.8 42.1 26.0 21.7 17.7
1974 34.2 28.5 35.3 NA 9.1 43.9 28.2 26.4 NA 40.5 11.5 48.4 30.4 25.7 20.7
1975 34.5 31.5 37.9 NA 9.7 47.2 29.8 30.5 NA 40.9 14.1 52.2 35.8 31.2 26.2
1976 39.2 36.1 41.8 NA 12.3 53.4 33.7 34.9 NA 44.2 17.7 55.9 40.3 36.0 29.6
1977 44.4 39.3 45.8 NA 14.5 55.2 36.8 39.2 NA 47.8 21.2 59.0 44.6 37.8 33.8
1978 50.0 43.8 48.3 NA 17.6 56.5 39.9 43.2 NA 50.6 24.1 61.6 47.0 39.6 39.1
1979 55.9 49.6 51.6 NA 21.5 58.6 45.0 48.1 NA 54.8 29.4 64.5 47.9 42.1 46.0
1980 59.7 54.5 56.0 NA 27.4 62.8 49.3 54.8 NA 59.2 34.6 67.4 52.5 46.3 51.4
1981 65.3 60.9 60.1 NA 34.1 63.1 51.8 60.6 NA 61.0 40.1 69.0 57.5 49.8 53.5
1982 65.6 62.2 62.6 NA 37.2 65.5 57.1 67.9 NA 62.5 45.7 70.9 61.1 51.8 55.9
1983 68.1 65.7 65.4 NA 40.7 68.6 62.3 73.0 NA 63.2 51.1 71.2 64.0 57.0 57.0
1984 75.0 71.3 69.4 NA 48.6 73.2 69.5 77.0 NA 65.9 55.8 71.6 69.2 63.2 60.9
1985 78.5 76.5 72.6 29.4 52.3 77.1 76.1 80.7 NA 69.4 61.3 74.5 76.0 70.0 66.2
1986 80.8 80.6 75.5 34.6 62.5 78.5 82.7 82.6 NA 72.9 64.7 77.8 83.8 75.4 70.3
1987 83.8 85.7 76.7 43.7 70.5 79.7 87.2 84.1 NA 76.0 69.2 82.4 92.8 80.9 77.8
1988 89.5 94.0 80.5 55.9 75.3 82.3 88.9 86.4 NA 78.6 75.5 83.4 94.9 87.2 84.4
1989 92.8 99.3 86.3 62.5 81.2 87.9 91.8 91.2 NA 82.6 83.3 85.0 93.2 94.5 90.3
1990 95.1 100.2 93.2 73.0 86.4 94.0 96.1 96.1 NA 89.5 90.9 90.2 95.5 102.3 97.9
1991 96.0 98.6 99.4 89.4 93.1 98.8 98.0 99.2 95.2 96.0 97.6 95.6 98.2 104.1 100.0
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 104.2 102.1 97.3 111.1 105.5 99.2 99.1 97.5 96.6 96.6 100.6 100.1 103.6 92.4 102.2
1994 109.4 106.8 96.2 128.2 112.9 99.3 101.6 98.2 97.0 96.8 104.3 100.7 109.6 99.2 105.7
1995 112.2 112.8 96.4 159.0 120.0 100.4 107.6 101.4 99.7 99.2 110.5 103.4 116.3 113.1 110.8
1996 113.4 116.7 96.8 179.1 125.3 101.0 110.2 102.4 99.4 99.4 116.0 104.4 122.3 121.3 114.4
1997 117.5 122.9 99.1 178.9 131.3 103.3 114.5 100.9 99.9 99.5 121.7 107.7 132.9 125.7 118.9
1998 123.5 129.8 95.4 160.7 136.9 105.3 118.9 101.3 102.2 101.2 123.0 113.0 142.9 133.0 125.0
1999 127.4 136.5 92.3 172.8 142.4 107.7 122.0 103.8 103.0 NA 124.8 116.6 145.8 138.1 127.1
2000 134.8 143.0 91.3 194.7 147.4 110.3 125.2 104.8 108.1 NA 128.9 122.1 148.8 142.8 129.8
2001 129.2 146.0 88.9 214.5 133.5 114.9 129.3 108.8 110.5 NA 132.4 127.7 154.3 144.1 129.2
2002 126.1 154.3 81.9 240.3 133.3 115.7 130.3 109.4 110.0 NA 136.6 131.3 159.7 143.0 127.6
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
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 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.