1999 International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs in Manufacturing — 2000-09-07

Average hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars for manufacturing production workers in 28 foreign economies remained at 79 percent of the U.S. level in 1999, after declining in the previous three years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Although costs in Europe and Canada continued to decline relative to the United States, compensation costs in Mexico, Japan, and the Asian newly industrializing economies (NIEs) of Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan increased at a faster rate than in the United States. (See chart 1.) Despite four years of relative declines, 1999 hourly compensation costs in Europe were still 6 percent higher than in the United States. And, despite a slight increase in 1999, costs in the Asian NIEs were approximately only one- third of the U.S. level. After briefly dropping below the U.S. level in 1998, Japanese compensation costs rose to a level 9 percent above the United States.