Relative Costs of Labor in Various Countries

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**Source: *Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2004-2005*, Table 1371.**
Indices of Relative Hourly Compensation Costs for Production Workers in Manufacturing, 1980-2002
country	1980	1990	1995	2002
United States	100	100	100	100
Canada	88	107	94	75
Mexico	22	11	10	11
Germany	124	146	184	123
France	91	104	113	82
Italy	83	117	94	70
Netherlands	122	121	140	102
Spain	60	76	74	56
Sweden	127	140	125	95
Switzerland	112	140	170	113
United Kingdom	77	85	80	82
Japan	56	85	138	88
South Korea	10	25	42	43
Sri Lanka	2	2	3	NA
Singapore	15	25	43	34
Taiwan	10	26	34	25

The crucial statistics are the unit labor costs; i.e., the wage rate divided by the labor productivity. For competitiveness one needs to compare the unit labor between countries. Below are shown the unit labor costs for a number of countries.

Indices of Relative Unit Costs of Production Workers in Manufacturing, 1980-1998
Country 1980 1990 1995 1998

United States 100 100 100 100

Canada 84.7 104.7 89.2 86.5

Japan 66.5 89.5 143.9 99.7

Belgium 114.4 96.4 112 89.7

France 99.4 101.4 106.4 85.9

Germany 77.2 94.1 123 95.4

Italy 82 101.1 83.1 83.4

Netherlands 106.6 95.8 109.7 87.8

Norway 82.8 102.4 111.8 107

Sweden 90.2 97.8 75.4 69.8

United Kingdom 100.8 99.7 97.6 112.6

Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2000, Table 1384.

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