Table 10. Unit labor costs in manufacturing, U.S. dollar basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
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Table 10. Unit labor costs in manufacturing, U.S. dollar basis, 14 countries or areas, 1950-2002
(Indexes: 1992=100)
United Former West Nether- United
Year States Canada* Japan Korea Taiwan Belgium Denmark France* Germany**Germany**Italy lands Norway Sweden* Kingdom*
1950 NA 23.1 NA NA NA NA 8.5 20.3 NA 9.5 13.8 12.2 7.7 10.7 10.0
1955 NA 29.7 12.8 NA NA NA 10.7 28.5 NA 9.4 14.1 13.9 10.0 15.5 13.2
1960 NA 32.9 11.0 NA NA 19.4 12.0 23.5 NA 10.4 15.0 15.3 11.0 16.9 15.6
1961 NA 30.6 11.3 NA NA 20.3 12.7 24.4 NA 11.6 15.3 17.2 11.6 17.6 16.6
1962 NA 28.1 12.3 NA NA 20.7 13.2 25.4 NA 12.3 16.3 17.9 12.7 18.3 17.1
1963 NA 27.8 12.7 NA NA 22.0 13.9 26.3 NA 12.6 18.8 18.9 12.9 18.9 17.0
1964 NA 27.9 12.5 NA NA 23.5 13.9 26.5 NA 12.6 19.8 20.0 13.0 19.1 16.9
1965 NA 28.2 13.6 NA NA 24.8 14.7 26.9 NA 13.0 19.0 21.1 13.6 19.6 18.0
1966 NA 29.7 13.6 NA NA 25.6 15.9 26.2 NA 13.6 18.6 22.0 14.3 20.6 18.8
1967 NA 30.9 13.5 NA NA 26.5 16.3 26.5 NA 13.5 19.6 22.8 15.4 21.0 18.3
1968 NA 31.3 14.1 NA NA 25.9 15.7 27.1 NA 13.4 19.4 22.5 16.0 20.9 15.9
1969 NA 32.3 14.6 NA NA 25.9 16.7 25.9 NA 13.9 20.4 23.2 16.1 21.1 16.9
1970 NA 36.0 15.5 NA 14.9 27.0 18.0 25.8 NA 17.1 23.3 24.5 17.4 23.1 19.1
1971 NA 37.3 17.4 NA 15.6 29.9 19.8 27.4 NA 19.3 26.9 27.3 19.6 25.3 21.2
1972 NA 38.8 21.0 NA 15.7 35.0 21.6 31.6 NA 21.9 29.4 31.6 22.4 28.9 23.7
1973 NA 39.3 26.3 NA 18.9 42.4 27.7 38.5 NA 28.0 32.0 39.2 27.2 33.1 24.7
1974 NA 46.0 31.3 NA 28.8 49.5 32.5 41.3 NA 31.5 35.2 45.0 32.0 36.7 27.9
1975 NA 53.1 34.8 NA 29.3 60.9 38.2 54.7 NA 35.1 45.7 55.2 40.9 47.4 35.9
1976 NA 58.0 35.4 NA 30.1 60.9 38.8 53.0 NA 34.4 39.2 53.2 44.1 52.0 32.4
1977 61.2 56.7 41.5 NA 31.3 67.6 42.0 55.2 NA 39.6 42.8 57.7 50.0 56.4 35.1
1978 65.3 55.8 54.7 NA 32.2 77.8 49.3 65.1 NA 47.6 48.1 67.7 54.7 60.1 44.4
1979 70.7 59.6 51.4 NA 37.5 84.2 55.7 75.2 NA 53.6 54.3 74.8 55.4 63.3 57.9
1980 78.8 67.4 51.8 NA 43.4 88.3 55.9 84.2 NA 59.6 59.0 77.5 62.9 70.2 77.7
1981 82.4 70.9 55.2 NA 49.2 70.6 48.4 71.8 NA 49.9 53.1 62.2 60.4 65.1 75.0
1982 87.9 77.5 49.3 NA 49.4 57.2 44.9 65.5 NA 49.3 51.9 61.0 57.4 54.4 67.8
1983 86.0 78.1 52.4 NA 47.2 51.0 41.9 59.3 NA 46.7 52.1 56.0 53.8 46.1 58.6
1984 85.6 72.5 52.2 NA 49.6 46.8 39.3 54.4 NA 42.4 47.7 47.2 49.7 44.0 53.3
1985 87.3 69.8 50.3 55.0 51.3 46.9 40.9 54.3 NA 41.7 46.6 46.4 50.0 46.1 54.7
1986 91.2 72.4 75.3 53.0 55.6 63.4 57.7 71.0 NA 58.5 61.9 64.4 64.3 59.2 64.7
1987 86.9 77.6 85.1 60.6 66.3 77.2 75.5 83.1 NA 74.9 73.9 81.3 76.4 69.6 76.4
1988 86.7 85.0 93.3 77.8 75.5 77.0 78.9 82.3 NA 76.9 75.2 82.2 84.8 75.4 84.0
1989 90.5 91.1 87.2 91.6 85.2 72.3 72.1 77.5 NA 73.0 76.1 74.6 81.7 76.8 79.4
1990 93.7 98.0 83.9 93.0 89.7 89.5 91.2 94.2 NA 87.3 94.1 87.9 93.6 91.3 93.8
1991 97.6 105.1 91.8 100.3 91.1 92.3 91.0 93.2 87.5 87.8 97.5 90.0 95.0 96.3 100.1
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1993 100.6 90.3 115.3 102.7 98.1 95.1 96.5 95.2 98.7 99.4 81.6 96.9 89.2 67.8 85.6
1994 98.5 82.8 125.8 106.8 99.0 94.2 91.4 93.4 98.2 99.8 77.9 93.2 92.3 64.0 86.4
1995 94.8 83.0 131.6 124.3 99.2 105.2 104.0 102.6 114.2 115.5 77.9 104.8 106.4 70.0 91.9
1996 93.5 86.4 109.5 125.9 95.4 98.3 107.5 101.3 111.6 111.6 87.9 100.0 106.6 77.3 93.2
1997 91.9 84.0 97.4 100.2 89.5 81.4 90.8 83.3 94.0 93.5 80.9 87.0 102.1 65.4 100.3
1998 92.8 79.6 92.2 65.8 77.4 80.0 92.6 79.1 92.9 89.1 78.8 87.2 103.5 61.5 105.9
1999 91.3 78.8 101.0 68.8 78.3 78.0 89.5 75.2 91.6 NA 76.7 84.3 102.2 56.4 104.7
2000 92.3 78.2 98.4 70.4 78.1 66.5 76.5 62.8 79.8 NA 66.6 73.3 93.0 47.5 98.3
2001 94.1 79.2 89.3 66.5 69.4 67.0 73.4 61.4 78.7 NA 65.8 75.0 94.0 43.1 95.1
2002 92.8 80.5 81.1 72.4 63.7 70.9 77.9 65.1 83.0 NA 72.2 82.8 110.3 44.2 102.1
NA: Not Available
Note: The data relate to employees (wage and salary earners) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Taiwan
and to all employed persons (employees and self-employed workers) in the other countries.
* Compensation adjusted to include changes in employment taxes that are not compensation to employees,
but are labor costs to employers.
** See note on Germany in box on page 4.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2003.
Last Modified Date: September 09, 2003
United States Department of Labor
