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International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs in Manufacturing, 2016 - Summary Tables


Correction Statement
19 April 2018
Hourly compensation costs for Argentina, 2015-2016
Due to a technical error, 2015 and 2016 data for Argentina were incorrectly published in the 16 February 2018 release of ILC's "International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs in Manufacturing" database. The corrections apply to estimates of hourly compensation costs and its components for Argentina, including "pay for time worked," "directly paid benefits," "total direct pay," and "social insurance expenditures and labor-related taxes," which were all previously understated. The correction makes hourly compensation costs for Argentina more in line with those for Greece rather than those for certain Eastern European economies.

16 February 2018

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Table 1. Hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, in US dollars and as a percent of costs in the United States (US =100)

Table 2. Average annual percent change in hourly compensation costs in manufacturing and exchange rates

Table 3. Components of hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, US dollars, 2016

Table 4. Manufacturing hourly compensation costs in China and India, in US dollars and as a percent of costs in the United States (US =100)

TABLE 1. Hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, in US dollars and as a percent of costs in the United States (US =100)
Hourly Compensation Costs(1)      
 Country  in US dollars   US = 100  
1997 (2) 2015 2016 (3) 1997 (2) 2015 2016
Switzerland 30.43 61.01 60.36 132 161 155
Norway 25.88 50.96 48.62 112 135 125
Belgium 28.95 47.96 47.26 126 127 121
Denmark 23.72 44.57 45.32 103 118 116
Germany 28.86 42.27 43.18 125 112 111
Sweden 25.05 41.64 41.68 109 110 107
Austria (5) 24.88 38.99 39.54 108 103 101
United States 23.04 37.81 39.03 100 100 100
Finland 22.36 38.44 38.72 97 102 99
Australia 19.29 38.59 38.19 84 102 98
France 24.87 37.31 37.72 108 99 97
Ireland 17.42 35.84 36.23 76 95 93
Netherlands 22.71 35.02 34.60 99 93 89
Italy 19.77 32.40 32.49 86 86 83
Canada 18.49 30.74 30.08 80 81 77
United Kingdom 19.30 33.01 28.41 84 82 73
Singapore 12.16 25.87 26.75 53 68 69
Japan (4) 22.00 23.60 26.46 96 62 68
New Zealand 12.04 23.23 23.67 52 61 61
Spain 13.96 23.40 23.44 61 62 60
South Korea 9.24 22.54 22.98 40 60 59
Israel 11.62 21.85 22.63 50 58 58
Argentina (4) 7.55 20.20 16.77 33 53 43
Greece 11.61 16.01 15.70 50 42 40
Estonia NA 11.00 11.60 NA 29 30
Slovakia 2.84 11.08 11.57 12 29 30
Portugal 6.44 10.99 10.96 28 29 28
Czech Republic 3.25 10.39 10.71 14 27 27
Taiwan (4) 7.07 9.49 9.82 31 25 25
Hungary 3.05 8.21 8.60 13 22 22
Poland 3.29 8.52 8.53 14 23 22
Brazil 7.03 7.73 7.98 31 20 20
Turkey NA 5.68 6.09 NA 15 16
Mexico 2.62 4.38 3.91 11 12 10
Philippines 1.24 2.15 2.06 5 6 5

NA means data not available.

For complete definitions and country information, see Technical Notes and Country Notes.

(1) Compensation costs include direct pay, social insurance expenditures, and labor-related taxes.

(2) With the exception of Estonia and Turkey, 1997 is the first year data for all countries are available.

(3) Data are ranked on the 2016 value of Hourly Compensation, US Dollars.

(4) Except for Argentina, Japan and Taiwan, data relate to manufacturing as defined by the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) Revision 4.

(5) For Austria, ISIC C Manufacturing excludes ISIC 12 Manufacture of tobacco products.

Source: The Conference Board, International Labor Comparisons program, February 2018 

 

TABLE 2. Average annual percent change in hourly compensation costs(1) in manufacturing and exchange rates
 Country  1998-2016   2015   2016  
National currency change Exchange rate change (2) US dollar change (3) National currency change Exchange rate change (2) US dollar change (3) National currency change Exchange rate change (2) US dollar change (3)
Japan (5) 0.4 0.6 1.0 0.1 -12.5 -12.4 0.8 11.3 12.1
Turkey NA -14.6 NA 13.5 -19.5 -8.6 19.2 -9.9 7.3
Estonia NA -0.1 NA 6.0 -16.4 -11.4 5.8 -0.3 5.5
Hungary 7.9 -2.1 5.6 3.9 -16.7 -13.5 5.6 -0.8 4.8
Slovakia 6.5 1.1 7.7 2.5 -16.4 -14.3 4.8 -0.3 4.5
Israel 4.2 -0.6 3.6 3.0 -7.9 -5.2 2.3 1.2 3.5
Taiwan (5) 2.4 -0.6 1.7 5.2 -4.8 0.1 4.8 -1.3 3.4
Singapore 3.8 0.4 4.2 4.6 -7.8 -3.6 3.9 -0.5 3.4
United States 2.8 0.0 2.8 2.1 0.0 2.1 3.2 0.0 3.2
Brazil 7.1 -6.0 0.7 4.8 -29.3 -25.9 8.3 -4.7 3.2
Czech Republic 5.0 1.4 6.5 3.5 -15.6 -12.7 2.4 0.6 3.1
Germany 2.2 -0.1 2.1 2.2 -16.4 -14.6 2.4 -0.3 2.2
South Korea 6.0 -1.0 4.9 2.5 -6.9 -4.6 4.6 -2.5 1.9
New Zealand 3.3 0.3 3.6 2.6 -15.9 -13.8 2.1 -0.2 1.9
Denmark 3.6 -0.1 3.5 1.1 -16.6 -15.7 1.7 -0.1 1.7
Austria (6) 2.6 -0.1 2.5 2.2 -16.4 -14.5 1.7 -0.3 1.4
France 2.3 -0.1 2.2 1.4 -16.4 -15.3 1.4 -0.3 1.1
Ireland 4.3 -0.4 3.9 -1.3 -16.4 -17.5 1.4 -0.3 1.1
Finland 3.1 -0.2 2.9 2.1 -16.4 -14.6 1.0 -0.3 0.7
Italy 2.8 -0.1 2.6 2.6 -16.4 -14.3 0.5 -0.3 0.3
Spain 2.9 -0.1 2.8 -0.7 -16.4 -17.0 0.5 -0.3 0.2
Poland 6.2 -1.0 5.1 3.6 -16.3 -13.3 4.7 -4.4 0.1
Sweden 3.3 -0.6 2.7 2.1 -18.7 -17.0 1.6 -1.5 0.1
Portugal 3.0 -0.2 2.8 3.6 -16.4 -13.4 0.0 -0.3 -0.3
Australia 3.7 0.0 3.7 0.6 -16.7 -16.1 0.0 -1.0 -1.0
Switzerland 1.6 2.1 3.7 -1.0 -4.8 -5.8 1.3 -2.3 -1.1
Netherlands 2.4

-0.1

2.2 -0.5 -16.4 -16.9 -0.9 -0.3 -1.2
Belgium 2.7 -0.1 2.6 1.7 -16.4 -15.0 -1.2 -0.3 -1.5
Greece 2.2 -0.6 1.6 -0.5 -16.4 -16.8 -1.7 -0.3 -1.9
Canada 2.4 0.2 2.6 3.1 -13.5 -10.8 1.4 -3.5 -2.2
Philippines 5.3 -2.5 2.7 4.3 -2.4 1.7 0.1 -4.2 -4.1
Norway 4.3 -0.9 3.4 3.7 -21.9 -19.0 -0.6 -4.0 -4.6
United Kingdom 3.1 -1.0 2.1 1.3 -7.2 -6.0 3.7 -11.6 -8.4
Mexico 6.8 -4.4 2.1 4.6 -16.1 -12.3 5.1 -15.1 -10.7
Argentina (5) 20.2 -13.2 4.3 30.6 -12.5 14.3 32.7 -37.4 -17.0

NA means data not available.

For complete definitions and country information, see Technical Notes and Country Notes.

(1) Compensation costs include direct pay, social insurance expenditures, and labor-related taxes.

(2) Exchange rates are expressed as US dollars per foreign currency unit. A positive (negative) change signifies an appreciation (depreciation) of the foreign currency relative to the US dollar.

(3) U.S. dollar changes are approximately equal to national currency changes plus exchange rate changes for each country.

(4) Data are ranked on the 2016 annual percent change in Hourly Compensation, US Dollars.

(5) Except for Argentina, Japan and Taiwan, data relate to manufacturing as defined by the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) Revision 4.

(6) For Austria, ISIC C Manufacturing excludes ISIC 12 Manufacture of tobacco products.

Source: The Conference Board, International Labor Comparisons program, February 2018 

 

TABLE 3. Components of hourly compensation costs as a percent of total hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, US dollars, 2016
  Hourly Compensation Costs(1)  as a percent of total hourly compensation  
    Total, In US Dollars  Social Insurance(2) Direct Pay  
Total Directly-Paid Benefits(3) Pay for Time Worked(4)
United States 39.03 24.0 76.0 9.4 66.6
Argentina (5) 16.77 17.4 82.6 14.0 68.6
Australia 38.19 19.1 80.9 9.6 71.3
Austria (6) 39.54 26.1 73.9 21.4 52.5
Belgium 47.26 31.0 69.0 20.5 48.5
Brazil 7.98 31.4 68.6 14.4 54.3
Canada 30.08 20.2 79.8 9.9 69.9
Czech Republic 10.71 26.6 73.4 13.0 60.4
Denmark 45.32 11.6 88.4 15.8 72.7
Estonia 11.60 26.0 74.0 9.6 64.3
Finland 38.72 20.4 79.6 20.7 58.9
France 37.72 30.4 69.6 13.2 56.4
Germany 43.18 21.9 78.1 20.6 57.5
Greece 15.70 23.5 76.5 18.2 58.4
Hungary 8.60 23.9 76.1 19.2 56.8
Ireland 36.23 16.6 83.4 21.8 61.6
Israel 22.63 18.2 81.8 8.5 73.3
Italy 32.49 29.0 71.0 18.4 52.6
Japan (5) 26.46 18.1 81.9 25.9 56.0
Mexico 3.91 29.8 70.2 NA NA
Netherlands 34.60 20.9 79.1 20.5 58.6
New Zealand 23.67 3.9 96.1 12.3 83.9
Norway 48.62 17.0 83.0 NA NA
Philippines 2.06 7.8 92.2 17.2 75.0
Poland 8.53 18.0 82.0 23.1 58.9
Portugal 10.96 19.8 80.2 20.1 60.0
Singapore 26.75 18.3 81.7 18.1 63.6
Slovakia 11.57 27.3 72.7 19.3 53.4
South Korea 22.98 19.1 80.9 NA NA
Spain 23.44 24.8 75.2 20.3 54.8
Sweden 41.68 30.8 69.2 10.8 58.4
Switzerland 60.36 18.4 81.6 19.0 62.7
Taiwan (5) 9.82 15.0 85.0 NA NA
Turkey 6.09 17.2 82.8 15.1 67.7
United Kingdom 28.41 14.5 85.5 13.6 71.9

NA means data not available.

For complete definitions and country information, see Technical Notes and Country Notes.

(1) Compensation costs include direct pay, social insurance expenditures, and labor-related taxes.

(2) Employer social insurance expenditures are legally required, private, and contractual social benefit costs, and labor-related taxes minus subsidies.

(3) Directly-paid benefits are primarily pay for leave time, irregular bonuses, and pay in kind.

(4) Pay for time worked is primarily base wages and salaries, overtime pay, regular bonuses and premiums (paid each pay period), and cost of living adjustments.

(5) Except for Argentina, Japan and Taiwan, data relate to manufacturing as defined by the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) Revision 4.

(6) For Austria, ISIC C Manufacturing excludes ISIC 12 Manufacture of tobacco products.

Source: The Conference Board, International Labor Comparisons program, February 2018

 


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Summary Tables

Time Series Data 

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Key Findings