Table 8. Production Workers: Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars
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Table 8. Production Workers: Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing,
34 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2007
Country or Area 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004 2005 2006 2007
Americas
United States............. 6.24 9.75 12.87 15.00 17.39 19.88 23.12 23.81 24.15 24.59
Brazil.................... - - - - - 3.50 3.14 4.16 5.01 5.96
Canada.................... 6.40 9.02 11.39 16.62 16.80 16.78 22.25 24.40 26.28 28.91
Mexico.................... 1.43 2.15 1.55 1.54 1.70 2.07 2.45 2.65 2.77 2.92
Asia and Oceania
Australia................. 5.75 8.67 8.41 13.45 15.58 14.51 23.79 25.53 26.46 30.17
Hong Kong SAR (1)......... 0.75 1.50 1.73 3.22 4.81 5.45 5.51 5.65 5.78 5.78
Israel.................... 1.99 3.34 3.59 7.56 9.23 11.16 11.85 12.13 12.45 13.91
Japan..................... 2.95 5.43 6.24 12.52 23.34 21.69 21.65 21.31 19.99 19.75
Korea, Republic of........ 0.31 0.93 1.20 3.59 7.14 8.08 10.50 12.48 14.48 16.02
New Zealand............... 3.27 5.44 4.55 8.48 10.35 8.38 13.65 14.97 14.47 17.27
Philippines............... - - - - 0.94 0.73 0.78 0.85 0.98 1.10
Singapore................. 0.85 1.55 2.57 3.81 7.72 7.34 7.50 7.34 8.68 8.35
Sri Lanka................. 0.28 0.22 0.28 0.35 0.48 0.48 0.52 0.54 0.57 0.61
Taiwan.................... 0.39 1.05 1.51 3.91 5.99 6.19 5.97 6.42 6.56 6.58
Europe
Austria................... 4.59 9.03 7.71 18.04 25.67 20.13 29.19 30.20 31.30 35.33
Belgium................... 5.76 11.74 8.21 17.85 25.70 20.15 30.05 30.83 31.90 35.45
Czech Republic............ - - - - 2.54 2.85 5.48 6.08 6.83 8.20
Denmark................... 6.23 10.83 8.03 18.29 24.87 21.45 33.53 34.88 36.67 42.29
Finland................... 5.09 8.66 8.35 20.97 23.05 17.73 28.11 28.69 30.07 34.18
France.................... 5.61 10.06 8.04 16.31 20.06 15.98 23.98 24.56 25.47 28.57
Germany................... - - - - 30.10 22.66 33.14 33.38 34.26 37.66
Greece.................... 1.69 3.73 3.66 6.71 9.04 7.63 14.52 15.17 15.96 18.03
Hungary................... - - - - 2.98 2.78 5.69 6.13 6.30 7.91
Ireland................... 3.66 6.72 6.49 12.63 14.77 13.66 23.62 24.51 25.68 29.04
Italy..................... 4.70 8.21 7.67 17.92 16.69 14.53 23.66 24.33 25.17 28.23
Luxembourg................ 6.23 11.52 7.45 15.94 23.54 17.49 26.30 27.36 27.83 30.60
Netherlands............... 6.58 12.05 8.73 17.98 24.02 18.68 29.58 30.02 30.64 34.07
Norway.................... 7.20 12.32 10.93 22.71 25.95 23.50 36.97 39.34 41.69 48.56
Poland.................... - - - - - 2.81 3.85 4.53 5.05 6.17
Portugal.................. 1.50 1.96 1.45 3.55 5.09 4.64 7.32 7.42 7.53 8.27
Spain..................... 2.47 5.75 4.55 11.10 12.47 10.46 16.94 17.59 18.51 20.98
Sweden.................... 7.12 12.41 9.58 20.75 21.63 20.70 30.12 30.50 31.85 36.03
Switzerland............... 6.09 11.09 9.66 20.85 29.23 21.20 30.57 30.86 31.03 32.88
United Kingdom............ 3.21 7.22 5.97 11.95 13.24 16.31 24.37 25.36 26.36 29.73
Trade-Weighted Measures (2,3)
All 33 Foreign Economies.. 4.01 6.69 6.74 12.08 15.11 13.62 18.18 19.03 19.77 21.66
OECD (4).................. 4.32 7.20 7.21 12.86 16.10 14.68 19.88 20.80 21.57 23.68
Europe.................... 5.11 9.76 7.85 17.03 21.55 17.83 27.26 27.82 28.61 32.12
Euro Area (5)............. 5.33 10.07 8.01 17.63 23.08 18.10 27.96 28.40 29.12 32.71
Eastern Europe (6)........ - - - - - 2.81 4.87 5.45 5.93 7.27
East Asia ex-Japan (7).... 0.50 1.16 1.64 3.69 6.20 6.56 7.37 8.17 9.17 9.65
Dash means data not available.
(1) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
(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 earlier 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, 2009.
(6) Eastern Europe refers to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.
(7) East Asia ex-Japan includes Hong Kong SAR, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines,
Singapore, and Taiwan.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2009.
Last Modified Date: March 26, 2009
