Table 2. Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars for production workers in manufacturing,
   30 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2002
   Country or area                 1975    1980    1985    1990    1995    1999    2000    2001    2002
   Americas
   United States.............      6.36    9.87   13.01   14.91   17.19   19.10   19.76  r20.61  r21.37
   Brazil (1)................         -       -       -       -       -    3.43    3.56    2.97  r 2.58
   Canada....................      5.96    8.67   10.95   15.95   16.10   15.58   16.04   15.80   16.02
   Mexico....................      1.47    2.21    1.59    1.58  r 1.46  r 1.86  r 2.19  r 2.51  r 2.61
   Asia and Oceania
   Australia.................      5.62    8.47    8.21   13.24   15.56   15.99   14.47  r13.28  r15.44
   Hong Kong SAR (2).........      0.76    1.51  r 1.74    3.23    4.91  r 5.55  r 5.64  r 5.98  r 5.85
   Israel....................    r 2.03  r 3.41  r 3.65  r 7.70  r 9.48  r10.58  r11.42  r12.17  r10.85
   Japan.....................      3.00    5.52    6.34  r12.77  r23.19  r20.85  r22.34  r19.73  r19.02
   Korea.....................      0.32    0.96    1.23    3.71    7.29    7.35    8.19  r 7.71  r 9.04
   New Zealand...............    r 3.09  r 5.13  r 4.30  r 8.03  r 9.79  r 8.95  r 7.93  r 7.55  r 8.65
   Singapore.................      0.84    1.49    2.47  r 3.76  r 7.31  r 7.27  r 7.61  r 7.55  r 7.26
   Sri Lanka.................      0.28    0.22    0.28    0.35    0.48    0.46    0.48  r 0.45    0.49
   Taiwan....................      0.38    1.02  r 1.50    3.90  r 5.91  r 5.86  r 6.27  r 6.12  r 5.81
   Europe
   Austria...................      4.51    8.88    7.58   17.75   25.32  r21.73  r19.25  r19.16  r20.83
   Belgium...................      6.41   13.11    8.97   19.17   27.62   23.92  r21.60  r21.05   22.79
   Denmark...................      6.28   10.83    8.13   18.04   24.98  r24.71  r22.35  r22.84  r25.16
   Finland...................      4.66    8.33    8.25   21.25   24.32   21.55   19.45   19.86  r21.79
   France....................      4.52    8.94    7.52   15.49   19.38  r17.12  r15.56  r15.77  r17.27
   Germany, Former West......      6.29   12.21    9.50   21.81   31.57  r26.38  r23.68  r23.51  r25.40
   Germany, Unified..........         -       -       -       -  r30.25  r25.25  r22.66  r22.52  r24.31
   Greece....................      1.69    3.73    3.66  r 6.71  r 8.95       -       -       -       -
   Ireland...................    r 3.07    6.03  r 6.00  r11.80   13.78  r13.90  r12.87  r13.68  r15.54
   Italy.....................      4.67    8.15    7.63   17.45  r16.04   15.88  r14.15  r13.91  r15.07
   Luxembourg................    r 6.24  r11.55  r 7.50  r16.05  r23.43  r19.68  r17.57  r17.26  r18.77
   Netherlands...............      6.58   12.06    8.75   18.06   24.12  r21.46   19.44  r19.76   21.74
   Norway....................      6.77   11.59   10.37   21.47   24.38   24.45   22.44   23.13  r27.11
   Portugal..................    r 1.54  r 2.00  r 1.49  r 3.64  r 5.17  r 5.12  r 4.54    4.65    5.12
   Spain.....................      2.53    5.89    4.66   11.38   12.80  r12.01  r10.74  r10.85  r12.02
   Sweden....................      7.18   12.51    9.66   20.93   21.44  r21.60  r20.22  r18.43  r20.27
   Switzerland...............      6.09   11.09    9.66   20.86  r29.31  r23.55  r21.25  r21.83   24.11
   United Kingdom............      3.37    7.56    6.27   12.70  r13.88  r17.45  r16.96  r16.67  r18.03
   Trade-weighted measures (3,4)
   All 29 foreign economies..         -       -       -       -       -  r14.19  r14.16  r13.70  r14.17
    less Brazil..............      3.83    6.51  r 6.68   11.96  r15.22  r14.39  r14.35  r13.90  r14.38
    less Brazil, Mexico,
     Israel..................      4.27    7.31    7.62   13.83   17.72   16.64   16.52   15.92   16.49
   OECD (5)..................    r 4.17    7.08    7.21  r12.84  r16.22   15.27  r15.18  r14.67  r15.25
    less Mexico, Korea (6)...      4.96  r 8.44    8.72  r15.71  r19.80  r18.51   18.28   17.59  r18.23
   Europe....................      5.03    9.80    7.92   17.19  r21.84  r20.28  r18.56  r18.47  r20.14
   European Union-15 (7).....      4.96    9.71    7.80   16.97   21.44   20.07   18.38   18.26   19.87
   Asian NIEs (8)............      0.51    1.17    1.65    3.72  r 6.51  r 6.59  r 7.09  r 6.92  r 7.17
   r=revised
   Dash means data not available.
   (1) Data for Brazil are not available before 1996.
   (2) Hong Kong special administrative region of China.
   (3) Because data for Germany are not available before 1993, data for the former West
       Germany only are included in the trade-weighted measures.
   (4) For description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical
       Notes preceding these tables.
   (5) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
   (6) Mexico joined the OECD in 1994, and Korea joined in 1996.
   (7) European Union-15 refers to European Union member countries prior to the expansion
       of the European Union to 25 countries on May 1, 2004.
   (8) The Asian NIEs are Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
   Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2004.