Percent change in hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars for production workers in manufacturing, U.S. and selected countries, 1999 Country Percent change Singapore -7.6 Switzerland -3.4 Italy -3.0 Germany -2.2 France -1.6 Canada 0.0 U.K. 0.8 U.S. 2.9 Australia 6.5 Taiwan 6.6 Japan 14.2 Mexico 15.2 Korea 24.5