Internet address: http://www.bls.gov/fls USDL: 08-0093 Technical information: (202) 691-5654 For Release: 10:00 A.M. EST Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, January 25, 2008 INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF HOURLY COMPENSATION COSTS IN MANUFACTURING, 2006 Average hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars for production workers in manufacturing among 33 foreign economies were 82 percent of the U.S. level in 2006, increasing from 79 percent in 2005, according to data issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Compensation costs relative to the United States rose or remained unchanged in 30 of the economies covered in 2006. (See table 1.) For the first time, this news release contains data for all employees in addition to the series for production workers. (See discussion on page 6, table B, and table 7.) Both production worker and all employee data are introduced for the Philippines. The all employee series covers most of the countries included in the production worker series, but also introduces Argentina and Slovakia which are not included in the latter series. A note on China's labor costs appears on page 4 of this release. In the United States, hourly compensation costs for production workers in manufacturing were virtually unchanged at $23.82 in 2006. When measured in national currency terms, trade-weighted average costs increased 2.6 percent in the combined 33 foreign economies in 2006. The value of foreign currencies rose 2.0 percent against the U.S. dollar, resulting in a rise in hourly compensation costs in the foreign economies of 4.7 percent on a U.S. dollar basis. (See chart 1 and table A.) Chart 1. Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars for production workers in manufacturing, 1975-2006 PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT. -2- Compensation costs for production workers expressed in U.S. dollars This release provides manufacturing compensation data in terms of both national currencies and U.S. dollars. While data on a national currency basis show underlying wage and benefit trends within each country, frequent and sometimes sharp changes in currency exchange rates can have a large impact on compensation costs on a U.S. dollar basis. Data on a U.S. dollar basis are calculated by dividing compensation costs in the national currency by the exchange rate (expressed as national currency units per U.S. dollar). Compensation costs on a U.S. dollar basis are often used as indicators of competitiveness of manufactured goods in world trade and are the focus of the following discussion. Compensation costs for production workers in manufacturing measured in U.S. dollars continued to rise in 2006 in most of the foreign economies-with only two countries, Japan and New Zealand, showing a decrease in costs. In addition, hourly compensation costs increased by less than one percent in two economies, Taiwan and Switzerland (0.2 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively). The rate of compensation increase in a trade-weighted average of the 33 foreign economies was 4.7 percent in 2006, below the 5.6 percent historical average for the series. (See table A and table 3.) Chart 2. Indexes of hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars for production workers in manufacturing, 2006 PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT. Although average costs in the United States continued to be higher than those in most of the economies covered outside of Europe, 14 of the 20 European countries covered had higher hourly compensation costs than the United States, in a few cases more than 40 percent higher. With the value of the euro remaining relatively stable against the U.S. dollar in 2006 (+0.9 percent), European labor costs measured in U.S. dollars showed much weaker growth than in the earlier years of this decade. The only European countries to have double-digit growth in hourly -3- compensation costs on a U.S. dollar basis in 2006 were the Czech Republic and Poland (12.2 and 10.5 percent, respectively), both of which also experienced stronger appreciation of their national currencies against the dollar than the euro did. Compensation costs in Europe, on average, continued to be almost $5 higher on a per hour basis than in the United States. However, there is great variation in the level of compensation costs among the European countries covered. For example, hourly compensation costs in Europe ranged from $4.99 in Poland to more than eight times that level in Norway ($41.05), the highest labor cost country in these comparisons. (See table 2.) Outside of Europe, only Canada and Australia had compensation costs higher than the United States when measured in U.S. dollars. In 2006, the lowest compensation costs relative to the United States were in Mexico and the Philippines (12 percent and 4 percent of the U.S. level, respectively). Annual percent changes in manufacturing compensation costs measured in U.S. dollars also varied considerably in 2006. Hourly compensation costs in Brazil, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and Singapore all showed double-digit growth in 2006 (17.8, 15.5, 16.2, and 17.1 percent, respectively), boosted by an appreciation of their national currencies against the U.S. dollar. Japan and New Zealand were the only countries in these comparisons to show a decrease in hourly compensation costs measured in U.S. dollars (-6.2 and -3.3 percent, respectively), largely due to the depreciation of the Japanese yen and New Zealand dollar against the U.S. dollar. BOX: A note on the measures The hourly compensation costs measures in this news release are based on statistics available to BLS as of September 2007. These measures are prepared specifically for international comparisons of employer labor costs in manufacturing. The methods used, as well as the results, differ somewhat from those of other BLS series on U.S. compensation costs. See the Technical Notes for further information regarding definitions, sources, and computation methods, as well as a description of the trade-weighted measures for economic groups. The data for some countries may have been revised in later updates to reflect new or revised data provided to BLS subsequent to this news release. See International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs for Production Workers and All Employees in Manufacturing, 22 Manufacturing Industries at http://www.bls.gov/fls/flshcindnaics.htm for the most recent data. END OF BOX: A note on the measures Exchange rates The trade-weighted 2.0 percent increase in the value of the currencies of the 33 foreign economies against the U.S. dollar was the smallest increase since 2002 (0.4 percent), but well -4- above the average annual change since 1975 (-3.4 percent). The currencies of most economies appreciated in 2006, while the currencies of only seven economies- Mexico, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hungary, and Switzerland- depreciated against the dollar. (See table 5.) The movements of the foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar in 2006 had an influence on hourly manufacturing compensation costs measured in U.S. dollars. Hourly compensation costs on a national currency basis in the 33 foreign economies rose 2.6 percent. However, when adjusted for the appreciation of the foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar, this increase in costs was magnified to 4.7 percent. The effect that exchange rate changes can have on hourly compensation costs is particularly evident when comparing the labor costs of New Zealand with those of the United States. On a national currency basis, the increase in hourly compensation costs in New Zealand (4.9 percent) was greater than the increase in the United States (0.1 percent). When adjusted for changes in exchange rates, however, the increase in costs on a U.S. dollar basis was significantly lower in New Zealand than in the United States (-3.3 percent versus 0.1 percent). BOX: China Acknowledging the importance of China as one of the United States' largest trading partners, BLS is including data for China in this release. Due to data limitations, data are presented separately and only for 2002-2004. The compensation costs data presented for China are not directly comparable with the data for other countries found in this release. For a description of the methods used to construct the 2002 estimate and possible comparability issues, refer to Judith Banister's August 2005 article in the Monthly Labor Review found on the BLS website at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/08/art3full.pdf. In general, the methods used to update the hourly compensation costs data to 2003 and 2004 are the same as the methods used in the Banister article and are described in a November 2006 article of the Monthly Labor Review at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2006/11/art4full.pdf. China: Hourly Compensation Costs for All Employees in Manufacturing, 2002-2004 National U.S. Index Year Currency Dollar (United Basis Basis States (Yuan) (US$) =100) 2002 4.73 0.57 3 2003 5.17 0.62 3 2004 5.50 0.67 3 END OF BOX: China -5- Table A. Hourly compensation costs, in national currency and in U.S. dollars, for production workers in manufacturing and exchange rates (U.S. dollars per national currency unit) Percent change, 2005-2006 Hourly Hourly Country compensation, compensation, or area national Exchange U.S. currency Rates dollars Americas United States 0.1 - 0.1 Brazil 5.2 12.0 17.8 Canada .4 6.9 7.3 Mexico 4.5 -.2 4.3 Asia and Oceania Australia 5.4 -1.2 4.1 Hong Kong SAR (1) 2.2 .1 2.4 Israel 4.5 .7 5.2 Japan -.9 -5.3 -6.2 Korea, Republic of 7.7 7.3 15.5 New Zealand 4.9 -7.9 -3.3 Philippines 8.1 7.5 16.2 Singapore 11.7 4.8 17.1 Sri Lanka - - - Taiwan 1.4 -1.2 .2 Europe Austria 2.8 .9 3.8 Belgium 2.5 .9 3.5 Czech Republic 5.8 6.0 12.2 Denmark 2.0 .9 2.9 Finland 4.4 .9 5.4 France 2.8 .9 3.8 Germany 1.7 .9 2.6 Greece 4.2 .9 5.2 Hungary 8.2 -5.1 2.7 Ireland 6.5 .9 7.5 Italy 2.5 .9 3.5 Luxembourg .8 .9 1.7 Netherlands .7 .9 1.7 Norway 4.3 .5 4.8 Poland 6.0 4.3 10.5 Portugal 4.2 .9 5.2 Spain 4.2 .9 5.1 Sweden 3.0 1.3 4.4 Switzerland 1.1 -.6 .6 United Kingdom 4.0 1.3 5.3 Trade-weighted measures (2) All foreign economies 2.6 2.0 4.7 OECD (3) 2.3 1.9 4.2 Europe 2.9 .9 3.9 Asian NIEs (4) 5.8 3.4 9.5 1 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. 2 The 2005-2006 percent changes for the trade-weighted measures are based upon the changes for the countries or areas for which 2006 data are available. 3 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 4 Asian NIEs refer to Hong Kong SAR, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. -6- Compensation costs for all employees For the first time, this news release contains hourly compensation costs data for all employees in manufacturing in addition to the data for production workers. The all employee series begins with data for 1996. Production workers generally include those employees who are engaged in fabricating, assembly, and related activities. All employees include production workers as well as all others employed full or part time in an establishment. (See the technical notes beginning on page 9 for more detailed definitions of production workers and all employees.) The all employee series includes data for Argentina and Slovakia, two countries not covered by the production worker hourly compensation costs. Hong Kong SAR, Sri Lanka, Greece, and Luxembourg are not included in the all employee series as comparable data are not available. As the final column in Table B shows, hourly compensation costs for all employees are higher than those for production workers in each economy covered by the two series, generally ranging from 10 percent to 25 percent higher than production worker hourly compensation costs. The difference between the two series depends not only upon the higher compensation of non-production workers than production workers, but also on the relative employment levels of the two worker groups; typically the larger the portion of all employees accounted for by production workers, the smaller the gap in compensation costs. In the United States, hourly compensation costs for all employees in manufacturing were $29.60 in 2006, 24 percent higher than production worker compensation costs. Only 7 of the 28 foreign economies covered by both the production worker and all employee hourly compensation costs series had a larger difference between the compensation levels of the two groups than the United States. Although Australia was the only non-European economy to have higher hourly compensation costs than the United States in 2006 for all employees when measured in U.S. dollars ($30.10), 12 of 18 European countries had higher compensation costs than the United States. The hourly compensation costs of both the new countries in the series, Argentina and Slovakia, were 22 percent of the United States level. Since high labor costs countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden have smaller than average gaps between production worker and all employee hourly compensation costs, the range of European compensation costs narrowed when measured on an all employees basis (21 percent to 172 percent of the United States level for production workers versus 21 percent to 156 percent of the United States level for all employees). Measuring compensation costs on an all employees basis changes the position of some countries relative to the United States. For example, production worker compensation costs in Italy were 5 percent higher than in the United States for 2006. However, the gap between production worker and all employee hourly compensation costs is much lower in Italy than in the United States (15 percent versus 24 percent in 2006), so when compensation costs are measured on all employee basis, Italy's costs are about 3 percent lower than the United States. -7- Table B. Hourly Compensation Costs of Production Workers and All Employees in Manufacturing, 2006 Country Production All Production All All Employees or Area Workers Employees Workers Employees (Production (US=100) (US=100) (US$) (US$) Workers =100) Americas United States 100 100 23.82 29.60 124 Argentina - 22 - 6.57 - Brazil 21 20 4.91 5.90 120 Canada 108 98 25.74 29.00 113 Mexico 12 13 2.75 3.72 135 Asia and Oceania Australia 110 102 26.14 30.10 115 Hong Kong SAR (1) 24 - 5.78 - - Israel 54 49 12.98 14.37 111 Japan 85 82 20.20 24.40 121 Korea, Republic of 62 57 14.72 16.87 115 New Zealand 61 54 14.47 16.08 111 Philippines 4 5 1.07 1.36 127 Singapore 36 46 8.55 13.55 158 Sri Lanka - - - - - Taiwan 27 27 6.43 7.95 124 Europe Austria 128 124 30.46 36.70 120 Belgium 134 123 31.85 36.35 114 Czech Republic 28 - 6.77 - - Denmark 149 129 35.45 38.21 108 Finland 126 119 29.90 35.26 118 France 105 114 24.90 33.73 135 Germany 144 139 34.21 41.04 120 Greece 68 - 16.10 - - Hungary 26 28 6.29 8.39 133 Ireland 109 105 25.96 30.99 119 Italy 105 97 25.07 28.71 115 Luxembourg 116 - 27.74 - - Netherlands 136 119 32.34 35.34 109 Norway 172 156 41.05 46.31 113 Poland 21 21 4.99 6.26 125 Portugal 32 32 7.65 9.54 125 Slovakia - 22 - 6.53 - Spain 79 74 18.83 22.05 117 Sweden 133 116 31.80 34.21 108 Switzerland 129 121 30.67 35.68 116 United Kingdom 114 114 27.10 33.71 124 1 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. -8- Additional data available In addition to the compensation cost measures covered in this news release, supplementary tables are available for comparative levels of hourly compensation costs, hourly direct pay, pay for time worked, and the structure of compensation for production workers in manufacturing for all years from 1975 through 2006, and for all employees in manufacturing for all years from 1996 to 2006. Data also are available for national currency hourly compensation and exchange rates in the supplementary tables (http://www.bls.gov/fls). BLS also computes comparative measures for 22 component manufacturing industries. Data for the component industries are not included in this release; in general, the data limitations for the component industries are greater than for total manufacturing. Data are available via the Internet (http://www.bls.gov/fls). This series is updated several times per year as data become available. The data for component industries currently are available on a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) basis from 1992 to 2005. For further information, contact the Office of Productivity and Technology by phone at 202-691-5654, by e-mail at flshc@bls.gov, or by mail at Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Room 2150, Washington, DC 20212. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone: 1-800-877-8339. This material is in the public domain and, with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission. It may be translated into foreign languages without permission, with a separate credit for the translation. -9- TECHNICAL NOTES The tables in this news release present international comparisons of hourly compensation costs for production workers and all employees in manufacturing in selected countries or areas. The total compensation measures are prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in order to assess international differences in employer labor costs. For several reasons, the comparisons based on the more readily available average earnings statistics published by many countries can be misleading: national definitions of average earnings differ considerably; average earnings do not include all items of labor compensation; and the omitted items of compensation frequently represent a large proportion of total compensation. The compensation measures in this news release are based on statistics available to BLS as of September 2007. These measures may be revised as data are collected to update compensation measures for component industries. Data for component industries are available at http://www.bls.gov/fls/flshcindnaics.htm. For the first time, this news release contains data for all employees in addition to the series for production workers. The production worker series starts in 1975 and the all employee series in 1996. In addition, production worker and all employee data are introduced for the Philippines and all employee data are introduced for Argentina and Slovakia. Definitions Hourly compensation costs include (1) hourly direct pay and (2) employer social insurance expenditures and other labor taxes. Hourly direct pay includes all payments made directly to the worker, before payroll deductions of any kind, consisting of pay for time worked and other direct pay. Social insurance expenditures and other labor taxes include employer expenditures for legally required insurance programs, contractual and private benefit plans, and other labor taxes. Other labor taxes refer to taxes on payrolls or employment (or reductions to reflect subsidies), even if they do not finance programs that directly benefit workers, because such taxes are regarded as labor costs. The BLS definition of hourly compensation costs is not the same as the International Labor Office (ILO) definition of total labor costs. BLS hourly compensation costs do not include all items of labor costs. The costs of recruitment, employee training, and plant facilities and services--such as cafeterias and medical clinics--are not included because data are not available for many countries. The labor costs not included account for no more than 2 percent of total labor costs in most countries for which the data are available. Production workers generally include those employees who are engaged in fabricating, assembly, and related activities; material handling, warehousing, and shipping; maintenance and repair; janitorial and guard services; auxiliary production (for example, power plants); and other services closely related to the above activities. Working supervisors are generally included; apprentices and other trainees are generally excluded. All employees include production workers as well as all others employed full or part time in an establishment during a specified payroll period. Temporary employees are included. Persons are considered employed if they receive pay for any part of the specified pay period. The self-employed, unpaid family workers, and workers in private households are also excluded. -10- Hourly Compensation Costs consists of: * Hourly Direct Pay - Pay for Time Worked + Basic wages + Piece rate + Overtime premiums + Shift differentials + Bonuses and premiums paid regularly + Cost-of-living adjustments - Other Direct Pay + Pay for time not worked (vacations, holidays, and other leave, except sick leave) + Seasonal and irregular bonuses + Social allowances + Pay in kind * Employer Social Insurance Expenditures (both legally required and contractual and private) and Other Labor Taxes - Retirement and disability pensions - Health insurance - Income guarantee insurance and sick leave - Life and accident insurance - Occupational injury and illness compensation - Unemployment insurance - Family allowances - Other social insurance expenditures - Taxes (or subsidies) on payrolls or employment Data on Hourly Direct Pay, Pay for Time Worked, and Social Insurance Expenditures can be found in the supplementary tables to this news release at http://www.bls.gov/fls/hcompsupptabtoc.htm. Methods Total compensation is computed by adjusting each country's average earnings series for items of direct pay not included in earnings and for employer expenditures for legally required insurance, contractual and private benefit plans, and other labor taxes and subsidies. For the United States and other countries that measure earnings on an hours-paid basis, the figures are also adjusted in order to approximate compensation per hour worked. Earnings statistics are obtained from surveys of employment, hours, and earnings or from surveys or censuses of manufactures. These surveys typically cover firms with a minimum of one to ten employees. For most countries, adjustment factors are obtained from periodic labor cost surveys or censuses of manufacturers and interpolated or projected to non-survey years on the basis of other information. Generally, these surveys cover all employees in the establishment; survey data are used in both production worker and all employee series. Other information used includes tabulations of employer social security contribution rates provided by the International Social Security Association, information on contractual and legislated fringe benefit changes from labor bulletins, and statistical series on indirect labor costs. For the United States, the adjustment factors are specially constructed for international comparisons using data from several surveys. The methods used, as well as the results, differ somewhat from those for other BLS series on U.S. compensation costs. -11- The statistics are also adjusted, where necessary, to account for major differences in worker coverage; differences in industrial classification systems; and changes over time in survey coverage, sample benchmarks, or frequency of surveys. Nevertheless, some differences remain. Exceptions to these methods, as well as data sources can be found in "Country Notes and Sources" located at www.bls.gov/fls. Exchange Rates and Currencies Hourly compensation costs are converted to U.S. dollars using the average daily exchange rate for the reference period. The exchange rates used are prevailing commercial market exchange rates as published by either the U.S. Federal Reserve Board or the International Monetary Fund. On January 1, 1999, several European countries joined the European Monetary Union (EMU): Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Greece joined on January 1, 2001. There are currently other member countries of the EMU that are not covered in this report. Currencies of EMU members were established at fixed conversion rates to the euro, the official currency of the EMU. For the EMU countries data on hourly compensation costs are reported in euros and exchange rates for the EMU countries relate to euros per dollar for 1999 to the present; for the years 1975-1998, hourly compensation data are published in the old national currencies used in each country before the adoption of the euro. In order to include data on trends in national currency compensation costs and exchange rates for the entire time period, BLS converts national currency for 1975-1998 to a "euro" basis for calculation. The conversions for all years 1975-1998 are made using the official fixed conversion rates for 1999, with the exception of Greece which uses the official fixed conversion rate for 2001. Industrial classification The hourly compensation measures relate to manufacturing on a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) basis. NAICS is the common industrial classification used by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The NAICS definition of manufacturing differs somewhat from the definition of manufacturing used in other countries. Some industries that are not included in the NAICS definition of manufacturing, such as publishing of books and sound recordings, some repair and maintenance of equipment, and some business support services, are included in the definition of manufacturing in most other industrial classifications. In contrast, other industries are included in the NAICS definition of manufacturing but not in the definition of manufacturing for most foreign economies, such as some processing of foods, some packaging, and retail sales of bakery products from the production facility. Most of the differences other than the treatment of publishing are very minor and do not have a noticeable impact on overall manufacturing averages. BLS makes adjustments to remove publishing from manufacturing for the foreign economies in which it is classified as a part of manufacturing, except for Sri Lanka, for which the data necessary to remove publishing are not available. For the countries for which adjustments are made, the effect of publishing on manufacturing wages is estimated and removed using data from national sources or the United Nations Industrial Statistics Database, the International Labor Office (ILO), and other sources. Except for Hong Kong, the effect of removing publishing from manufacturing does not change the level of hourly compensation costs for any economy more than 1.5 percent, and the -12- change is less than one percent in most countries. For Hong Kong, the effect of the adjustments is 2 to 4 percent in several years. Trade-weighted measures The trade weights used to compute the average compensation cost measures for selected economic groups are weights based on the relative dollar value of U.S. trade in manufactured commodities (exports plus imports) with each country or area in 2004. (See the following table.) The trade data are compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. The only countries not covered in the trade-weighted measures of this report that accounted for as much as one percent of such trade in 2004 are China, India, Malaysia, and Thailand. Hourly compensation costs data for China are included in this report in a special text box. In addition, an article on manufacturing compensation costs in China is available on the BLS website at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2006/11/art4full.pdf. The compensation data on China are not directly comparable with the data for other countries found in this news release. The countries included in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) trade-weighted measure are Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and all European countries covered in the series. The group labeled "Euro Area" consists of the 12 European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001 (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain). The group labeled "Europe" consists of the members of the Euro Area and the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The group labeled "Asian NIEs" consists of the four newly industrialized economies of Hong Kong SAR, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. The trade-weighted measures relate to all the countries or areas covered in the series. If data for the most recent year(s) are missing for a country, trade-weighted estimates are computed using the average percent change of all the other economies in the series to estimate the missing year(s). An economy is included in trade-weight series beginning with the start year of that economy's data series. The trade-weighted average rates of change are computed as the trade- weighted arithmetic average of the rates of change for the individual countries or areas; the trade-weighted average hourly compensation costs are computed as the trade-weighted arithmetic average of cost levels for the individual countries or areas. Rates of change derived from the trade- weighted average hourly compensation cost levels need not be the same as the trade-weighted average rates of change. -13- Share of total U.S. imports and exports of manufactured products in 2004 (in percent) Country or area 2004 Country or area 2004 and economic trade and economic trade group share group share Argentina 0.3 Germany 5.6 Brazil 1.7 Greece 0.1 Canada 20.0 Hungary 0.2 Mexico 12.5 Ireland 1.9 Italy 2.0 Australia 1.1 Luxembourg 0.1 Hong Kong SAR(1) 1.3 Netherlands 1.8 Israel 1.2 Norway 0.2 Japan 9.4 Poland 0.1 Korea, Republic of 3.7 Portugal 0.2 New Zealand 0.2 Slovakia 0.1 Philippines 0.8 Spain 0.7 Singapore 1.8 Sweden 0.8 Sri Lanka 0.1 Switzerland 1.0 Taiwan 2.9 United Kingdom 3.8 Austria 0.4 Economic Groups (2) Belgium 1.5 33 foreign economies 75.5 Czech Republic 0.1 OECD(3) 66.2 Denmark 0.3 Europe 22.4 Finland 0.3 Euro Area (4) 16.1 France 2.7 Asian NIEs 9.1 (1) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. (2) Trade shares for Economic Groups refer to the country coverage of the production worker series. The relevant trade shares for the all employee series are: 31 Foreign Economies, 74.4; OECD, 66.1; Europe, 22.3; Euro Area, 15.9; Asian NIES, 7.9. (3) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (4) Euro Area consists of the European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. Data limitations Because compensation is partly estimated, the statistics should not be considered as precise measures of comparative compensation costs. In addition, the figures are subject to revision as the results of new labor cost surveys or other data used to estimate compensation costs become available. The comparative level figures in this report are averages for all manufacturing industries and are not necessarily representative of all component industries. In the United States and some other countries, such as -14- Mexico and Taiwan, differentials in hourly compensation cost levels by industry are fairly wide. Labor costs versus labor income The hourly compensation figures in U.S. dollars shown in the tables provide comparative measures of employer labor costs; they do not provide inter-country comparisons of the purchasing power of worker incomes. Prices of goods and services vary greatly among countries, and the commercial market exchange rates used to compare employer labor costs do not reliably indicate relative differences in prices. Purchasing power parities, that is, the number of foreign currency units required to buy goods and services equivalent to what can be purchased with one unit of U.S. or other base-country currency must be used for meaningful international comparisons of the relative purchasing power of worker incomes. Total compensation converted to U.S. dollars at purchasing power parities would provide one measure for comparing relative real levels of labor income. It should be noted, however, that total compensation includes employer payments to funds for the benefit of workers in addition to payments made directly to workers. (For a few countries, the compensation measures also include taxes or subsidies on payrolls or employment even if they do not finance programs which directly benefit workers.) Payments into these funds provide either deferred income (for example, payments to retirement funds), a type of insurance (for example, payments to unemployment or health benefit funds), or current social benefits (for example, family allowances), and the relationship between employer payments and current or future worker benefits is indirect. On the other hand, excluding these payments would understate the total value of income derived from work because they substitute for worker savings or self-insurance to cover retirement, medical costs, etc. Total compensation, because it takes account of employer payments into funds for the benefit of workers, is a broader income concept than either total direct earnings or direct spendable earnings. An even broader concept would take account of all social benefits available to workers, including those financed out of general revenues as well as those financed through employment or payroll taxes. -15- International Comparison of Hourly Compensation Costs in Manufacturing, 2006 List of Tables Page 16 Table 1. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Indexes of hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Page 17 Table 2. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing, 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Page 18 Table 3. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing, 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Page 19 Table 4. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in national currency in manufacturing, 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Page 20 Table 5. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Annual percent change in exchange rates (U.S. dollars per national currency unit), 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Page 21 Table 6. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Hourly compensation costs in national currency in manufacturing and exchange rates, 34 countries or areas, 2006 Page 22 Table 7. ALL EMPLOYEES: Indexes of hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Page 23 Table 8. ALL EMPLOYEES: Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing, 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Page 24 Table 9. ALL EMPLOYEES: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing, 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Page 25 Table 10. ALL EMPLOYEES: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in national currency in manufacturing, 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Page 26 Table 11. ALL EMPLOYEES: Annual percent change in exchange rates (U.S. dollars per national currency unit), 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Page 27 Table 12. ALL EMPLOYEES: Hourly compensation costs in national currency in manufacturing and exchange rates, 32 countries or areas, 2006 -16- Table 1. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Indexes of hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Country or area 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 BRAZIL.................... - - - - - 18 12 14 17 21 CANADA.................... 99 92 88 110 96 84 87 94 101 108 MEXICO.................... 24 23 12 11 10 11 11 11 11 12 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 91 88 64 88 89 73 88 101 105 110 HONG KONG SAR (1)......... 12 16 14 22 28 28 25 24 24 24 ISRAEL.................... 33 35 29 52 55 58 52 52 52 54 JAPAN..................... 48 57 49 85 137 112 90 95 90 85 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 5 10 10 25 42 42 43 47 54 62 NEW ZEALAND............... 53 56 36 57 60 43 52 59 63 61 PHILIPPINES............... - - - - 5 4 4 4 4 4 SINGAPORE................. 14 16 20 26 45 37 32 32 31 36 SRI LANKA................. 5 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 - TAIWAN.................... 6 11 12 26 35 32 25 26 27 27 Europe AUSTRIA................... 73 92 60 120 147 97 113 123 123 128 BELGIUM................... 94 122 65 120 150 102 118 130 129 134 CZECH REPUBLIC............ - - - - 15 15 21 24 25 28 DENMARK................... 101 112 63 123 146 109 132 146 145 149 FINLAND................... 82 89 65 141 132 91 108 120 119 126 FRANCE.................... 73 92 59 104 112 79 92 101 101 105 GERMANY................... - - - - 175 115 133 143 140 144 GREECE.................... 27 39 29 45 53 39 53 63 64 68 HUNGARY................... - - - - 16 14 21 25 26 26 IRELAND................... 57 67 49 82 82 68 88 98 101 109 ITALY..................... 75 84 60 119 96 74 90 102 102 105 LUXEMBOURG................ 101 119 58 107 137 89 102 113 115 116 NETHERLANDS............... 107 125 69 121 140 98 122 133 134 136 NORWAY.................... 112 123 82 147 145 115 146 157 165 172 POLAND.................... - - - - - 14 16 17 19 21 PORTUGAL.................. 25 21 12 24 30 23 28 30 31 32 SPAIN..................... 41 61 36 76 74 54 67 75 75 79 SWEDEN.................... 115 129 75 140 126 105 118 130 128 133 SWITZERLAND............... 98 114 75 139 168 107 124 131 128 129 UNITED KINGDOM............ 54 78 49 84 80 86 95 107 108 114 Trade-weighted measures All 33 Foreign Economies (2,3)................... 62 68 52 80 87 69 72 78 79 82 OECD (4).................. 67 73 56 85 92 74 78 85 86 90 Europe.................... 80 99 61 114 124 91 107 117 117 121 Euro Area (5)............. 82 101 62 117 132 92 109 119 119 123 Asian NIEs (6)............ 8 12 13 25 39 36 33 35 37 42 Dash means data not available. (1) Average of selected manufacturing industries. (2) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (3) The trade-weighted measures for production workers in this table are not directly comparable with those for all employees later in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (4) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (5) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (6) The Asian NIEs are Hong Kong SAR, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -17- Table 2. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing, 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Country or area 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. 6.16 9.63 12.71 14.81 17.17 19.65 22.48 23.13 23.81 23.82 BRAZIL.................... - - - - - 3.50 2.74 3.14 4.16 4.91 CANADA.................... 6.11 8.87 11.20 16.33 16.50 16.48 19.60 21.85 23.98 25.74 MEXICO.................... 1.46 2.20 1.59 1.57 1.70 2.07 2.44 2.44 2.64 2.75 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 5.60 8.44 8.18 13.09 15.36 14.41 19.79 23.38 25.11 26.14 HONG KONG SAR (1)......... 0.75 1.50 1.73 3.22 4.80 5.45 5.54 5.51 5.65 5.78 ISRAEL.................... 2.02 3.41 3.65 7.69 9.41 11.41 11.62 12.01 12.34 12.98 JAPAN..................... 2.97 5.46 6.27 12.59 23.47 21.93 20.32 21.95 21.54 20.20 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 0.32 0.95 1.23 3.70 7.29 8.23 9.69 10.81 12.74 14.72 NEW ZEALAND............... 3.27 5.44 4.55 8.48 10.35 8.38 11.69 13.65 14.97 14.47 PHILIPPINES............... - - - - 0.94 0.77 0.79 0.84 0.92 1.07 SINGAPORE................. 0.84 1.54 2.55 3.78 7.65 7.30 7.23 7.47 7.30 8.55 SRI LANKA................. 0.28 0.22 0.28 0.35 0.48 0.48 0.51 0.52 0.54 - TAIWAN.................... 0.38 1.03 1.51 3.91 5.99 6.19 5.69 5.98 6.42 6.43 Europe AUSTRIA................... 4.50 8.87 7.57 17.72 25.26 19.12 25.42 28.39 29.36 30.46 BELGIUM................... 5.76 11.74 8.21 17.85 25.68 20.13 26.55 30.01 30.79 31.85 CZECH REPUBLIC............ - - - - 2.53 3.01 4.72 5.45 6.04 6.77 DENMARK................... 6.23 10.83 8.03 18.29 25.02 21.43 29.63 33.68 34.45 35.45 FINLAND................... 5.06 8.61 8.30 20.84 22.60 17.84 24.35 27.80 28.38 29.90 FRANCE.................... 4.49 8.90 7.47 15.35 19.24 15.43 20.74 23.29 24.00 24.90 GERMANY................... - - - - 30.10 22.67 29.93 33.09 33.34 34.21 GREECE.................... 1.69 3.72 3.65 6.69 9.05 7.67 11.86 14.65 15.31 16.10 HUNGARY................... - - - - 2.69 2.74 4.79 5.68 6.13 6.29 IRELAND................... 3.51 6.44 6.22 12.11 14.14 13.28 19.79 22.67 24.15 25.96 ITALY..................... 4.64 8.09 7.56 17.68 16.53 14.47 20.29 23.57 24.23 25.07 LUXEMBOURG................ 6.21 11.48 7.43 15.90 23.45 17.41 22.83 26.18 27.26 27.74 NETHERLANDS............... 6.58 12.05 8.73 17.98 24.03 19.35 27.52 30.82 31.80 32.34 NORWAY.................... 6.90 11.80 10.47 21.76 24.84 22.56 32.73 36.41 39.17 41.05 POLAND.................... - - - - - 2.81 3.52 3.84 4.51 4.99 PORTUGAL.................. 1.53 1.99 1.48 3.61 5.14 4.49 6.18 6.96 7.27 7.65 SPAIN..................... 2.52 5.86 4.64 11.30 12.70 10.66 15.14 17.25 17.92 18.83 SWEDEN.................... 7.12 12.40 9.58 20.75 21.62 20.68 26.42 30.08 30.46 31.80 SWITZERLAND............... 6.03 10.96 9.55 20.63 28.89 20.95 27.79 30.21 30.50 30.67 UNITED KINGDOM............ 3.35 7.52 6.22 12.46 13.71 16.84 21.29 24.82 25.72 27.10 Trade-weighted measures All 33 Foreign Economies (2,3)................... 3.83 6.51 6.62 11.85 14.88 13.57 16.15 17.94 18.82 19.58 OECD (4).................. 4.14 7.01 7.08 12.62 15.87 14.62 17.59 19.59 20.55 21.35 Europe.................... 4.91 9.53 7.74 16.82 21.25 17.85 23.97 27.04 27.75 28.76 Euro Area (5)............. 5.04 9.70 7.84 17.30 22.70 18.04 24.55 27.57 28.24 29.21 Asian NIEs (6)............ 0.49 1.16 1.62 3.71 6.64 7.08 7.50 8.05 8.91 9.93 Dash means data not available. (1) Average of selected manufacturing industries. (2) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (3) The trade-weighted measures for production workers in this table are not directly comparable with those for all employees later in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (4) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (5) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (6) The Asian NIEs are Hong Kong SAR, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -18- Table 3. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing, 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Country or area 1975- 1975- 1980- 1985- 1990- 1995- 2000- 2004 2005 2006 2006(1) 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. 4.5 9.3 5.7 3.1 3.0 2.7 3.3 2.9 2.9 .1 BRAZIL.................... - - - - - - 5.8 14.6 32.5 17.8 CANADA.................... 4.7 7.7 4.8 7.8 .2 .0 7.7 11.5 9.8 7.3 MEXICO.................... 2.1 8.5 -6.3 -.2 1.5 4.0 4.9 .0 8.1 4.3 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 5.1 8.6 -.6 9.9 3.3 -1.3 10.4 18.1 7.4 4.1 HONG KONG SAR (2)......... 6.8 14.8 2.8 13.2 8.3 2.6 1.0 -.6 2.6 2.4 ISRAEL.................... 6.2 11.0 1.4 16.1 4.1 3.9 2.2 3.4 2.7 5.2 JAPAN..................... 6.4 13.0 2.8 14.9 13.3 -1.3 -1.4 8.0 -1.8 -6.2 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 13.1 24.3 5.2 24.6 14.6 2.4 10.2 11.5 17.8 15.5 NEW ZEALAND............... 4.9 10.7 -3.5 13.3 4.1 -4.1 9.5 16.8 9.7 -3.3 PHILIPPINES............... - - - - - -4.1 5.8 6.7 9.5 16.2 SINGAPORE................. 7.8 12.9 10.6 8.2 15.1 -.9 2.7 3.3 -2.3 17.1 SRI LANKA................. 2.2 -5.0 5.2 4.7 6.4 .0 - 1.9 4.7 - TAIWAN.................... 9.5 21.8 8.0 21.0 8.9 .7 .6 4.9 7.5 .2 Europe AUSTRIA................... 6.4 14.5 -3.1 18.5 7.4 -5.4 8.1 11.7 3.4 3.8 BELGIUM................... 5.7 15.3 -6.9 16.8 7.5 -4.8 8.0 13.1 2.6 3.5 CZECH REPUBLIC............ - - - - - 3.5 14.5 15.4 10.8 12.2 DENMARK................... 5.8 11.7 -5.8 17.9 6.5 -3.0 8.7 13.7 2.3 2.9 FINLAND................... 5.9 11.2 -.7 20.2 1.6 -4.6 9.0 14.2 2.1 5.4 FRANCE.................... 5.7 14.6 -3.4 15.5 4.6 -4.3 8.3 12.3 3.1 3.8 GERMANY................... - - - - - -5.5 7.1 10.6 .7 2.6 GREECE.................... 7.6 17.2 -.4 12.9 6.2 -3.3 13.2 23.5 4.5 5.2 HUNGARY................... - - - - - .4 14.8 18.7 7.8 2.7 IRELAND................... 6.7 12.9 -.7 14.2 3.1 -1.2 11.8 14.6 6.5 7.5 ITALY..................... 5.6 11.8 -1.3 18.5 -1.3 -2.6 9.6 16.1 2.8 3.5 LUXEMBOURG................ 4.9 13.1 -8.3 16.4 8.1 -5.8 8.1 14.7 4.1 1.7 NETHERLANDS............... 5.3 12.9 -6.2 15.6 6.0 -4.2 8.9 12.0 3.2 1.7 NORWAY.................... 5.9 11.3 -2.4 15.8 2.7 -1.9 10.5 11.2 7.6 4.8 POLAND.................... - - - - - - 10.0 9.3 17.3 10.5 PORTUGAL.................. 5.3 5.4 -5.8 19.6 7.3 -2.7 9.3 12.5 4.5 5.2 SPAIN..................... 6.7 18.4 -4.6 19.5 2.4 -3.4 10.0 14.0 3.9 5.1 SWEDEN.................... 4.9 11.8 -5.0 16.7 .8 -.9 7.4 13.8 1.3 4.4 SWITZERLAND............... 5.4 12.7 -2.7 16.7 7.0 -6.2 6.6 8.7 1.0 .6 UNITED KINGDOM............ 7.0 17.5 -3.7 14.9 1.9 4.2 8.2 16.6 3.6 5.3 Trade-weighted measures All 33 Foreign Economies (3,4)................... 5.6 12.1 .2 11.6 4.9 -.2 6.0 9.2 6.4 4.7 OECD (5).................. 5.4 11.7 -.4 11.2 4.4 -.3 6.5 9.7 6.0 4.2 Europe.................... 6.0 14.3 -3.9 16.6 4.5 -2.7 8.5 13.2 2.9 3.9 Euro Area (6)............. 5.9 13.9 -4.0 17.0 5.1 -4.2 8.6 12.6 2.7 3.6 Asian NIEs (7)............ 10.2 20.2 6.7 19.0 12.2 1.3 4.7 6.5 9.0 9.5 Rates of change based on compound rate method. Dash means data not available. (1) 1975-2005 for Sri Lanka. (2) Average of selected manufacturing industries. (3) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (4) The trade-weighted measures for production workers in this table are not directly comparable with those for all employees later in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (5) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (6) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (7) The Asian NIEs are Hong Kong SAR, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -19- Table 4. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in national currency in manufacturing, 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Country or area 1975- 1975- 1980- 1985- 1990- 1995- 2000- 2004 2005 2006 2006(1) 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. 4.5 9.3 5.7 3.1 3.0 2.7 3.3 2.9 2.9 .1 BRAZIL.................... - - - - - - 8.8 9.0 10.3 5.2 CANADA.................... 5.1 10.8 8.1 4.5 3.5 1.6 3.0 3.6 2.2 .4 MEXICO.................... 27.0 22.5 51.8 61.1 19.7 12.4 7.4 4.6 4.3 4.5 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 7.0 11.6 9.6 7.5 4.3 3.6 5.8 4.6 3.7 5.4 HONG KONG SAR (2)......... 8.4 14.9 12.5 13.2 8.2 2.7 .9 -.6 2.4 2.2 ISRAEL.................... 41.3 68.3 200.9 29.2 12.8 10.4 3.7 1.8 2.9 4.5 JAPAN..................... 3.2 7.0 3.9 4.1 3.8 1.4 -.1 .8 -.1 -.9 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 15.6 30.0 13.1 19.6 16.5 10.6 7.1 7.1 5.4 7.7 NEW ZEALAND............... 7.0 15.7 10.4 9.2 2.1 3.1 3.3 2.3 3.4 4.9 PHILIPPINES............... - - - - - 6.9 8.4 10.3 7.7 8.1 SINGAPORE................. 6.4 10.6 11.2 4.1 9.6 3.0 1.3 .2 -3.8 11.7 SRI LANKA................. 11.7 12.7 16.2 13.1 11.7 8.5 - 6.8 3.9 - TAIWAN.................... 9.0 20.5 10.2 11.8 8.5 4.1 1.3 1.8 3.5 1.4 Europe AUSTRIA................... 4.8 7.9 6.4 5.1 4.9 2.3 2.7 1.7 3.3 2.8 BELGIUM................... 5.2 10.1 7.3 4.1 4.9 3.0 2.6 2.9 2.5 2.5 CZECH REPUBLIC............ - - - - - 11.6 4.7 5.2 3.3 5.8 DENMARK................... 5.9 11.3 6.9 5.9 4.4 4.4 3.3 3.5 2.4 2.0 FINLAND................... 6.8 11.5 9.9 9.2 4.4 3.0 3.5 3.9 2.0 4.4 FRANCE.................... 6.4 14.3 12.3 4.5 2.8 2.7 2.9 2.2 3.0 2.8 GERMANY................... - - - - - 2.2 1.7 .6 .7 1.7 GREECE.................... 15.2 23.9 26.0 16.0 14.6 6.0 7.7 12.4 4.4 4.2 HUNGARY................... - - - - - 18.1 9.3 7.3 6.2 8.2 IRELAND................... 7.8 14.7 13.3 4.6 3.8 5.1 6.2 4.3 6.4 6.5 ITALY..................... 8.6 18.0 15.8 8.0 4.9 2.4 4.1 5.7 2.7 2.5 LUXEMBOURG................ 4.5 8.0 5.6 3.8 5.4 1.9 2.7 4.4 4.0 .8 NETHERLANDS............... 4.0 7.6 3.9 2.5 3.3 3.7 3.5 1.9 3.1 .7 NORWAY.................... 6.6 10.1 9.1 8.6 3.0 4.8 4.8 5.9 2.8 4.3 POLAND.................... - - - - - - 4.0 2.8 3.8 6.0 PORTUGAL.................. 11.8 20.7 20.5 15.2 8.4 4.8 3.8 2.4 4.4 4.2 SPAIN..................... 9.6 23.8 13.4 7.9 6.5 3.9 4.5 3.7 3.8 4.2 SWEDEN.................... 6.9 12.2 9.5 8.3 4.7 4.2 3.6 3.5 3.0 3.0 SWITZERLAND............... 3.0 3.3 5.0 4.1 3.5 .7 1.4 .5 1.2 1.1 UNITED KINGDOM............ 7.6 16.5 8.2 7.8 4.5 5.0 4.8 4.0 4.3 4.0 Trade-weighted measures All 33 Foreign Economies (3,4)................... 10.0 14.9 18.4 15.4 7.6 4.7 3.7 3.3 2.8 2.6 OECD (5).................. 9.7 13.9 15.8 15.8 7.5 4.6 3.8 3.3 2.7 2.3 Europe.................... 6.1 12.2 8.8 5.7 4.5 3.5 3.4 2.8 2.9 2.9 Euro Area (6)............. 5.9 11.8 9.1 5.2 4.5 3.0 3.2 2.5 2.6 2.7 Asian NIEs (7)............ 11.0 21.6 11.8 13.6 11.8 6.2 3.5 3.2 2.7 5.8 Rates of change based on compound rate method. Dash means data not available. (1) 1975-2005 for Sri Lanka. (2) Average of selected manufacturing industries. (3) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (4) The trade-weighted measures for production workers in this table are not directly comparable with those for all employees later in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (5) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (6) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (7) The Asian NIEs are Hong Kong SAR, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -20- Table 5. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Annual percent change in exchange rates (U.S. dollars per national currency unit), 34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2006 Country or area 1975- 1975- 1980- 1985- 1990- 1995- 2000- 2004 2005 2006 2006(1) 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. - - - - - - - - - - BRAZIL.................... - - - - - - -2.8 5.1 20.2 12.0 CANADA.................... -.4 -2.7 -3.1 3.2 -3.2 -1.6 4.6 7.6 7.4 6.9 MEXICO.................... -19.6 -11.5 -38.3 -38.0 -15.2 -7.5 -2.4 -4.4 3.7 -.2 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. -1.8 -2.7 -9.3 2.2 -1.0 -4.7 4.4 12.9 3.6 -1.2 HONG KONG SAR (2)......... -1.5 -.1 -8.6 .0 .1 -.1 .1 .0 .1 .1 ISRAEL.................... -24.8 -34.1 -66.3 -10.2 -7.7 -5.9 -1.5 1.6 -.1 .7 JAPAN..................... 3.1 5.6 -1.1 10.5 9.1 -2.7 -1.3 7.1 -1.7 -5.3 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ -2.2 -4.4 -6.9 4.2 -1.7 -7.4 2.9 4.1 11.8 7.3 NEW ZEALAND............... -2.0 -4.3 -12.6 3.7 1.9 -7.0 6.0 14.2 6.1 -7.9 PHILIPPINES............... - - - - - -10.3 -2.4 -3.3 1.7 7.5 SINGAPORE................. 1.3 2.1 -.5 3.9 5.1 -3.9 1.4 3.1 1.6 4.8 SRI LANKA................. -8.5 -15.7 -9.5 -7.5 -4.8 -7.8 - -4.6 .7 - TAIWAN.................... .5 1.1 -2.0 8.2 .3 -3.2 -.7 3.1 3.9 -1.2 Europe AUSTRIA................... 1.5 6.1 -9.0 12.8 2.4 -7.5 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 BELGIUM................... .4 4.7 -13.2 12.2 2.5 -7.6 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 CZECH REPUBLIC............ - - - - - -7.2 9.3 9.8 7.3 6.0 DENMARK................... -.1 .4 -11.9 11.4 2.0 -7.1 5.3 9.8 -.1 .9 FINLAND................... -.8 -.3 -9.7 10.1 -2.6 -7.4 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 FRANCE.................... -.6 .3 -14.0 10.5 1.8 -6.8 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 GERMANY................... - - - - - -7.5 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 GREECE.................... -6.6 -5.4 -21.0 -2.7 -7.3 -8.7 5.1 9.9 .1 .9 HUNGARY................... - - - - - -14.9 5.0 10.7 1.6 -5.1 IRELAND................... -1.1 -1.5 -12.3 9.2 -.7 -6.1 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 ITALY..................... -2.7 -5.3 -14.8 9.8 -6.0 -4.9 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 LUXEMBOURG................ .4 4.7 -13.2 12.2 2.5 -7.6 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 NETHERLANDS............... 1.2 4.9 -9.8 12.7 2.6 -7.6 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 NORWAY.................... -.7 1.1 -10.5 6.6 -.3 -6.4 5.4 5.0 4.6 .5 POLAND.................... - - - - - - 5.8 6.3 13.0 4.3 PORTUGAL.................. -5.8 -12.7 -21.9 3.8 -1.0 -7.1 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 SPAIN..................... -2.7 -4.3 -15.9 10.8 -3.9 -7.1 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 SWEDEN.................... -1.8 -.4 -13.2 7.8 -3.7 -4.9 3.7 10.0 -1.6 1.3 SWITZERLAND............... 2.4 9.0 -7.4 12.0 3.3 -6.9 5.1 8.2 -.2 -.6 UNITED KINGDOM............ -.6 .9 -11.0 6.6 -2.4 -.8 3.3 12.1 -.6 1.3 Trade-weighted measures All 33 Foreign Economies (3,4)................... -3.4 -2.0 -12.4 -.4 -2.2 -4.6 2.2 5.7 3.5 2.0 OECD (5).................. -3.4 -1.7 -12.2 -.7 -2.5 -4.6 2.6 6.2 3.2 1.9 Europe.................... -.2 2.0 -11.6 10.4 .1 -5.9 4.9 10.1 .1 .9 Euro Area (6)............. -.1 2.0 -11.8 11.3 .6 -7.0 5.3 9.9 .1 .9 Asian NIEs (7)............ -.6 -1.0 -4.5 4.8 .4 -4.5 1.2 3.1 6.0 3.4 Rates of change based on compound rate method. Dash means data not available. (1) 1975-2005 for Sri Lanka. (2) Average of selected manufacturing industries. (3) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (4) The trade-weighted measures for production workers in this table are not directly comparable with those for all employees later in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (5) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (6) Euro Area referes to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (7) The Asian NIEs are Hong Kong SAR, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -21- Table 6. PRODUCTION WORKERS: Hourly compensation costs in national currency units in manufacturing and exchange rates, 34 countries or areas, 2006 Country or area Compensation costs Exchange Rates Americas UNITED STATES............. 23.82 1.000 BRAZIL.................... 10.66 2.174 CANADA.................... 29.19 1.134 MEXICO.................... 30.01 10.91 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 34.69 1.327 HONG KONG SAR (1)......... 44.92 7.768 ISRAEL.................... 57.86 4.457 JAPAN..................... 2350 116.3 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 14049 954.3 NEW ZEALAND............... 22.28 1.540 PHILIPPINES............... 54.90 51.25 SINGAPORE................. 13.57 1.588 SRI LANKA................. - - TAIWAN.................... 209.2 32.51 Europe AUSTRIA................... 24.25 .7960 BELGIUM................... 25.35 .7960 CZECH REPUBLIC............ 153.1 22.60 DENMARK................... 210.6 5.942 FINLAND................... 23.80 .7960 FRANCE.................... 19.82 .7960 GERMANY................... 27.23 .7960 GREECE.................... 12.82 .7960 HUNGARY................... 1324 210.4 IRELAND................... 20.66 .7960 ITALY..................... 19.96 .7960 LUXEMBOURG................ 22.08 .7960 NETHERLANDS............... 25.74 .7960 NORWAY.................... 263.2 6.410 POLAND.................... 15.47 3.103 PORTUGAL.................. 6.09 .7960 SPAIN..................... 14.99 .7960 SWEDEN.................... 234.4 7.372 SWITZERLAND............... 38.43 1.253 UNITED KINGDOM............ 14.69 .5420 Dash means data not available. (1) Average of selected manufacturing industries. National currency units are: United States, dollar; Brazil, real; Canada, dollar; Mexico, peso; Australia, dollar; Hong Kong SAR, dollar; Israel, new shekel; Japan, yen; Republic of Korea, won; New Zealand, dollar; Philippines, peso; Singapore, dollar; Sri Lanka, rupee; Taiwan, dollar; Austria, euro; Belgium, euro; Czech Republic, koruna; Denmark, krone; Finland, euro; France, euro; Germany, euro; Greece, euro; Hungary, forint; Ireland, euro; Italy, euro; Luxembourg, euro; Netherlands, euro; Norway, krone; Poland, zloty; Portugal, euro; Spain, euro; Sweden, krona; Switzerland, franc; United Kingdom, pound. Note: For data for all years 1975-2006, see the supplementary tables to this news release at http://www.bls.gov/fls. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -22- Table 7. ALL EMPLOYEES: Indexes of hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Country or area 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2005 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 ARGENTINA................. 33 34 33 11 15 18 22 BRAZIL.................... 32 29 17 11 13 17 20 CANADA.................... 85 78 75 69 83 89 98 MEXICO.................... 10 10 12 13 12 12 13 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 89 77 69 66 95 98 102 ISRAEL.................... 51 53 52 46 46 46 49 JAPAN..................... 109 90 103 81 89 86 82 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 42 28 38 37 43 49 57 NEW ZEALAND............... 57 45 38 37 52 56 54 PHILIPPINES............... 6 4 4 4 4 4 5 SINGAPORE................. 53 49 47 44 45 44 46 TAIWAN.................... 31 27 30 25 25 26 27 Europe AUSTRIA................... 135 114 93 92 118 119 124 BELGIUM................... 124 107 90 91 116 118 123 CZECH REPUBLIC............ 15 15 14 17 22 24 - DENMARK................... - 107 92 95 122 124 129 FINLAND................... 112 94 81 84 111 112 119 FRANCE.................... 126 109 88 85 109 110 114 GERMANY................... - 125 108 107 137 135 139 HUNGARY................... 15 15 14 19 26 27 28 IRELAND................... 75 70 62 68 97 99 105 ITALY..................... 95 84 67 68 93 93 97 NETHERLANDS............... - 103 85 89 118 117 119 NORWAY.................... - 116 102 116 142 149 156 POLAND.................... - 15 14 15 17 19 21 PORTUGAL.................. 30 28 23 23 30 30 32 SLOVAKIA.................. - 13 11 12 18 20 22 SPAIN..................... 70 61 51 52 70 70 74 SWEDEN.................... 116 103 89 85 112 110 116 SWITZERLAND............... 147 122 99 102 122 120 121 UNITED KINGDOM............ 77 90 87 86 106 108 114 Trade-weighted measures All 31 Foreign Economies (1,2)................... 70 68 65 60 73 75 78 OECD (3).................. 75 72 69 65 79 81 85 Europe.................... 99 100 86 87 112 112 116 Euro Area (4)............. 104 103 87 88 114 114 118 Asian NIEs (5)............ 41 32 37 35 37 40 44 Dash means data not available. (1) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (2) The trade-weighted measures for all employees in this table are not directly comparable with those for production workers earlier in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (3) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (4) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (5) The Asian NIEs are Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -23- Table 8. ALL EMPLOYEES: Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing, 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Country or area 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2005 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. 22.13 23.14 24.64 27.03 28.98 29.75 29.60 ARGENTINA................. 7.32 7.87 8.05 2.98 4.47 5.45 6.57 BRAZIL.................... 7.13 6.69 4.31 3.07 3.81 5.01 5.90 CANADA.................... 18.91 17.97 18.57 18.65 24.03 26.57 29.00 MEXICO.................... 2.32 2.37 2.89 3.44 3.33 3.57 3.72 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 19.75 17.71 17.01 17.88 27.43 29.18 30.10 ISRAEL.................... 11.35 12.21 12.77 12.34 13.43 13.80 14.37 JAPAN..................... 24.05 20.92 25.42 21.86 25.68 25.68 24.40 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 9.37 6.49 9.43 10.05 12.39 14.60 16.87 NEW ZEALAND............... 12.58 10.43 9.31 10.11 15.17 16.64 16.08 PHILIPPINES............... 1.27 0.91 0.97 1.00 1.07 1.17 1.36 SINGAPORE................. 11.78 11.39 11.58 11.97 13.11 13.14 13.55 TAIWAN.................... 6.91 6.31 7.35 6.84 7.26 7.87 7.95 Europe AUSTRIA................... 29.86 26.48 23.01 24.78 34.05 35.27 36.70 BELGIUM................... 27.48 24.67 22.30 24.53 33.56 35.01 36.35 CZECH REPUBLIC............ 3.40 3.52 3.37 4.57 6.52 7.24 - DENMARK................... - 24.75 22.55 25.60 35.39 36.77 38.21 FINLAND................... 24.74 21.78 20.03 22.60 32.15 33.36 35.26 FRANCE.................... 27.93 25.11 21.66 23.08 31.67 32.59 33.73 GERMANY................... - 28.98 26.56 28.95 39.67 40.05 41.04 HUNGARY................... 3.39 3.44 3.54 5.04 7.49 8.15 8.39 IRELAND................... 16.68 16.29 15.30 18.44 28.02 29.53 30.99 ITALY..................... 20.93 19.32 16.57 18.43 26.99 27.75 28.71 NETHERLANDS............... - 23.78 21.04 24.12 34.06 34.76 35.34 NORWAY.................... - 26.90 25.04 31.32 41.16 44.28 46.31 POLAND.................... - 3.50 3.40 4.06 4.80 5.66 6.26 PORTUGAL.................. 6.65 6.49 5.60 6.28 8.68 9.07 9.54 SLOVAKIA.................. - 2.91 2.61 3.25 5.21 5.82 6.53 SPAIN..................... 15.58 14.21 12.48 14.11 20.19 20.97 22.05 SWEDEN.................... 25.61 23.74 21.82 22.90 32.59 32.70 34.21 SWITZERLAND............... 32.55 28.18 24.42 27.71 35.21 35.56 35.68 UNITED KINGDOM............ 17.13 20.87 21.38 23.15 30.86 32.26 33.71 Trade-weighted measures All 31 Foreign Economies (1,2)................... 15.46 15.72 16.02 16.34 21.14 22.27 23.24 OECD (3).................. 16.51 16.71 17.05 17.49 22.79 23.99 25.03 Europe.................... 21.84 23.16 21.21 23.41 32.35 33.24 34.31 Euro Area (4)............. 22.92 23.90 21.44 23.70 33.16 33.97 35.04 Asian NIEs (5)............ 9.04 7.48 9.17 9.36 10.78 11.98 13.09 Dash means data not available. (1) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (2) The trade-weighted measures for all employees in this table are not directly comparable with those for production workers earlier in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (3) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (4) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (5) The Asian NIEs are Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -24- Table 9. ALL EMPLOYEES: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing, 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Country or area 1996- 1996- 2000- 2003 2004 2005 2006 2006 2000 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. 3.0 2.7 3.1 4.3 2.8 2.7 -.5 ARGENTINA................. -1.1 2.4 -3.3 21.6 23.1 22.1 20.6 BRAZIL.................... -1.9 -11.8 5.4 5.0 18.2 31.6 17.8 CANADA.................... 4.4 -.4 7.7 15.1 12.0 10.6 9.1 MEXICO.................... 4.8 5.7 4.3 -2.2 -.8 7.2 4.1 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 4.3 -3.7 10.0 29.2 18.7 6.4 3.2 ISRAEL.................... 2.4 3.0 2.0 6.0 2.7 2.8 4.1 JAPAN..................... .1 1.4 -.7 9.0 7.8 .0 -5.0 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 6.1 .2 10.2 10.5 11.5 17.8 15.5 NEW ZEALAND............... 2.5 -7.2 9.5 28.5 16.8 9.7 -3.3 PHILIPPINES............... .7 -6.4 5.8 .4 6.7 9.5 16.2 SINGAPORE................. 1.4 -.4 2.6 5.9 3.5 .2 3.1 TAIWAN.................... 1.4 1.5 1.3 1.5 4.6 8.5 .9 Europe AUSTRIA................... 2.1 -6.3 8.1 23.1 11.6 3.6 4.1 BELGIUM................... 2.8 -5.1 8.5 21.7 12.4 4.3 3.8 CZECH REPUBLIC............ 8.7 -.2 - 22.5 16.4 11.0 - DENMARK................... - - 9.2 24.6 10.9 3.9 3.9 FINLAND................... 3.6 -5.1 9.9 23.8 14.9 3.8 5.7 FRANCE.................... 1.9 -6.2 7.7 22.5 12.0 2.9 3.5 GERMANY................... - - 7.5 23.2 11.2 1.0 2.5 HUNGARY................... 9.5 1.1 15.5 24.5 19.5 8.8 2.9 IRELAND................... 6.4 -2.1 12.5 29.2 17.6 5.4 4.9 ITALY..................... 3.2 -5.7 9.6 26.1 16.1 2.8 3.5 NETHERLANDS............... - - 9.0 25.5 12.5 2.0 1.7 NORWAY.................... - - 10.8 18.1 11.3 7.6 4.6 POLAND.................... - - 10.7 7.5 9.9 18.0 10.5 PORTUGAL.................. 3.7 -4.2 9.3 22.8 12.5 4.5 5.2 SLOVAKIA.................. - - 16.5 35.0 18.6 11.9 12.2 SPAIN..................... 3.5 -5.4 10.0 25.6 14.0 3.9 5.1 SWEDEN.................... 2.9 -3.9 7.8 25.5 13.4 .3 4.6 SWITZERLAND............... .9 -6.9 6.5 16.9 8.7 1.0 .3 UNITED KINGDOM............ 7.0 5.7 7.9 14.9 16.0 4.6 4.5 Trade-weighted measures All 31 Foreign Economies (1,2)................... 3.5 .2 6.0 12.6 9.5 6.9 5.0 OECD (3).................. 3.9 .5 6.5 13.7 9.7 6.4 4.7 Europe.................... 4.2 -2.3 8.6 22.4 13.4 3.1 3.5 Euro Area (4)............. 3.4 -5.0 8.8 24.3 13.1 2.6 3.3 Asian NIEs (5)............ 3.5 .5 5.5 6.4 7.4 10.9 7.9 Rates of change based on compound rate method. Dash means data not available. (1) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (2) The trade-weighted measures for all employees in this table are not directly comparable with those for production workers earlier in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (3) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (4) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (5) The Asian NIEs are Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -25- Table 10. ALL EMPLOYEES: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in national currency in manufacturing, 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Country or area 1996- 1996- 2000- 2003 2004 2005 2006 2006 2000 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. 3.0 2.7 3.1 4.3 2.8 2.7 -.5 ARGENTINA................. 10.6 2.4 16.5 15.2 24.0 21.3 26.8 BRAZIL.................... 6.0 2.4 8.5 10.5 12.4 9.5 5.2 CANADA.................... 2.5 1.7 3.0 2.7 4.1 2.9 2.1 MEXICO.................... 8.7 11.6 6.8 9.2 3.8 3.4 4.2 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 4.7 3.8 5.3 7.7 5.2 2.7 4.4 ISRAEL.................... 5.9 9.5 3.5 1.9 1.1 2.9 3.4 JAPAN..................... .8 1.2 .6 .9 .7 1.7 .4 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 7.9 9.1 7.1 5.4 7.1 5.4 7.7 NEW ZEALAND............... 3.1 2.7 3.3 2.5 2.3 3.4 4.9 PHILIPPINES............... 7.7 6.7 8.4 5.5 10.3 7.7 8.1 SINGAPORE................. 2.6 4.7 1.2 2.9 .4 -1.3 -1.6 TAIWAN.................... 3.1 4.9 2.0 1.1 1.4 4.5 2.1 Europe AUSTRIA................... 2.4 2.1 2.7 2.8 1.6 3.5 3.1 BELGIUM................... 3.2 3.4 3.1 1.6 2.3 4.2 2.9 CZECH REPUBLIC............ 7.2 9.0 - 5.5 6.0 3.5 - DENMARK................... - - 3.7 3.9 1.0 4.0 3.0 FINLAND................... 3.9 3.2 4.4 3.3 4.6 3.7 4.7 FRANCE.................... 2.1 1.9 2.3 2.3 2.0 2.8 2.6 GERMANY................... - - 2.1 2.9 1.2 .9 1.5 HUNGARY................... 13.0 17.9 9.9 8.3 8.0 7.2 8.5 IRELAND................... 6.4 5.8 6.9 7.9 7.0 5.3 4.0 ITALY..................... 3.2 1.8 4.1 5.3 5.7 2.7 2.5 NETHERLANDS............... - - 3.6 4.8 2.4 2.0 .7 NORWAY.................... - - 5.1 4.7 5.9 2.8 4.1 POLAND.................... - - 4.6 2.5 3.3 4.4 6.0 PORTUGAL.................. 4.0 4.4 3.8 2.5 2.4 4.4 4.2 SLOVAKIA.................. - - 8.3 9.5 4.1 7.6 7.1 SPAIN..................... 4.0 3.3 4.5 4.9 3.7 3.8 4.2 SWEDEN.................... 3.9 3.9 3.9 4.3 3.1 2.0 3.2 SWITZERLAND............... 1.1 .6 1.3 1.0 .5 1.2 .9 UNITED KINGDOM............ 5.2 6.5 4.4 5.5 3.5 5.2 3.1 Trade-weighted measures All 31 Foreign Economies (1,2)................... 4.3 4.7 3.9 4.3 3.6 3.2 2.8 OECD (3).................. 4.2 4.7 3.8 4.3 3.4 3.0 2.7 Europe.................... 4.0 4.0 3.5 4.0 3.0 3.0 2.5 Euro Area (4)............. 3.6 3.1 3.3 3.8 2.9 2.6 2.3 Asian NIEs (5)............ 5.1 6.7 4.1 3.4 3.7 3.6 3.8 Rates of change based on compound rate method. Dash means data not available. (1) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (2) The trade-weighted measures for all employees in this table are not directly comparable with those for production workers earlier in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (3) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (4) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (5) The Asian NIEs are Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -26- Table 11. ALL EMPLOYEES: Annual percent change in exchange rates (U.S. dollars per national currency unit), 32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2006 Country or area 1996- 1996- 2000- 2003 2004 2005 2006 2006 2000 2006 Americas UNITED STATES............. - - - - - - - ARGENTINA................. -10.6 .0 -17.0 5.6 -.8 .7 -4.9 BRAZIL.................... -7.4 -13.9 -2.8 -5.0 5.1 20.2 12.0 CANADA.................... 1.9 -2.1 4.6 12.1 7.6 7.4 6.9 MEXICO.................... -3.6 -5.3 -2.4 -10.4 -4.4 3.7 -.2 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. -.4 -7.2 4.4 20.0 12.9 3.6 -1.2 ISRAEL.................... -3.3 -5.9 -1.5 4.0 1.6 -.1 .7 JAPAN..................... -.7 .2 -1.3 8.0 7.1 -1.7 -5.3 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ -1.7 -8.2 2.9 4.9 4.1 11.8 7.3 NEW ZEALAND............... -.6 -9.7 6.0 25.3 14.2 6.1 -7.9 PHILIPPINES............... -6.5 -12.3 -2.4 -4.8 -3.3 1.7 7.5 SINGAPORE................. -1.2 -4.9 1.4 2.9 3.0 1.6 4.8 TAIWAN.................... -1.7 -3.2 -.7 .4 3.1 3.9 -1.2 Europe AUSTRIA................... -.3 -8.2 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 BELGIUM................... -.4 -8.2 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 CZECH REPUBLIC............ 1.4 -8.4 - 16.1 9.8 7.3 - DENMARK................... - - 5.3 19.9 9.8 -.1 .9 FINLAND................... -.3 -8.1 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 FRANCE.................... -.2 -7.9 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 GERMANY................... - - 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 HUNGARY................... -3.2 -14.2 5.0 15.0 10.7 1.6 -5.1 IRELAND................... .0 -7.5 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 ITALY..................... .0 -7.4 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 NETHERLANDS............... - - 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 NORWAY.................... - - 5.4 12.7 5.1 4.6 .5 POLAND.................... - - 5.8 4.9 6.3 13.0 4.3 PORTUGAL.................. -.3 -8.2 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 SLOVAKIA.................. - - 7.6 23.3 14.0 4.0 4.8 SPAIN..................... -.4 -8.4 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 SWEDEN.................... -.9 -7.5 3.7 20.3 10.0 -1.6 1.3 SWITZERLAND............... -.1 -7.5 5.1 15.8 8.2 -.2 -.6 UNITED KINGDOM............ 1.7 -.7 3.3 8.9 12.1 -.6 1.3 Trade-weighted measures All 31 Foreign Economies (1,2)................... -.7 -4.2 2.1 8.2 5.8 3.5 2.0 OECD (3).................. -.3 -3.9 2.6 9.2 6.2 3.2 1.8 Europe.................... .2 -6.1 4.9 17.7 10.1 .1 .9 Euro Area (4)............. -.2 -7.8 5.3 19.8 9.9 .1 .9 Asian NIEs (5)............ -1.6 -5.8 1.3 2.9 3.5 6.9 3.9 Rates of change based on compound rate method. Dash means data not available. (1) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical Notes preceding these tables. (2) The trade-weighted measures for all employees in this table are not directly comparable with those for production workers earlier in this release; the country coverage of the two series differs slightly. (3) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (4) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2001. (5) The Asian NIEs are Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008. -27- Table 12. ALL EMPLOYEES: Hourly compensation costs in national currency units in manufacturing and exchange rates, 32 countries or areas, 2006 Country or area Compensation costs Exchange Rates Americas UNITED STATES............. 29.60 1.000 ARGENTINA................. 20.08 3.054 BRAZIL.................... 12.83 2.174 CANADA.................... 32.88 1.134 MEXICO.................... 40.58 10.91 Asia and Oceania AUSTRALIA................. 39.94 1.327 ISRAEL.................... 64.04 4.457 JAPAN..................... 2838 116.3 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF........ 16097 954.3 NEW ZEALAND............... 24.77 1.540 PHILIPPINES............... 69.81 51.25 SINGAPORE................. 21.52 1.588 TAIWAN.................... 258.4 32.51 Europe AUSTRIA................... 29.21 .7960 BELGIUM................... 28.93 .7960 CZECH REPUBLIC............ - - DENMARK................... 227.0 5.942 FINLAND................... 28.07 .7960 FRANCE.................... 26.85 .7960 GERMANY................... 32.67 .7960 HUNGARY................... 1765 210.4 IRELAND................... 24.67 .7960 ITALY..................... 22.86 .7960 NETHERLANDS............... 28.13 .7960 NORWAY.................... 296.8 6.410 POLAND.................... 19.42 3.103 PORTUGAL.................. 7.59 .7960 SLOVAKIA.................. 193.5 29.61 SPAIN..................... 17.55 .7960 SWEDEN.................... 252.2 7.372 SWITZERLAND............... 44.71 1.253 UNITED KINGDOM............ 18.27 .5420 Dash means data not available. National currency units are: United States, dollar; Argentina, pesos; Brazil, real; Canada, dollar; Mexico, peso; Australia, dollar; Israel, new shekel; Japan, yen; Republic of Korea, won; New Zealand, dollar; Philippines, peso; Singapore, dollar; Taiwan, dollar; Austria, euro; Belgium, euro; Czech Republic, koruna; Denmark, krone; Finland, euro; France, euro; Germany, euro; Hungary, forint; Ireland, euro; Italy, euro; Netherlands, euro; Norway, krone; Poland, zloty; Portugal, euro; Slovakia, koruna; Spain, euro; Sweden, krona; Switzerland, franc; United Kingdom, pound. Note: For data for all years 1975-2006, see the supplementary tables to this news release at http://www.bls.gov/fls. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2008.