Percent change in manufacturing unit labor costs (U.S. dollar basis), by country, 1998 Country Percent change Korea -37.4 Taiwan -15.2 Japan -7.2 Germany -4.7 Canada -3.7 Sweden -3.3 Italy -3.0 France -2.9 Netherlands -2.9 Norway -2.5 Belgium -1.3 United States 0.2 United Kingdom 5.9