Table 4. Hourly compensation costs in national currency

Table 4. Hourly compensation costs in national currency for production
workers in manufacturing, 29 countries or areas, selected years, 1975-97
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Country or area          1975    1980    1985    1990    1993    1994    1995    1996    1997
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

United States ........   6.36    9.87   13.01   14.91   16.51   16.87   17.19   17.70   18.24

Canada ...............   6.07   10.13   14.94   18.49   21.20   21.66   22.02   22.73   22.92
Mexico ...............     18      51     409    4440    7.48    8.34    9.69   11.68   13.86

Australia ............   4.30    7.43   11.70   16.74   18.37   19.16   20.32   21.09   21.52
Hong Kong SAR 1 ......   3.73    7.50   13.46   24.91   33.19   35.65   37.30   39.74   41.99
Israel ...............   1.44   19.42    4.79   17.24   24.97   27.66   31.73   36.14   41.55
Japan ................    889    1245    1512    1856    2134    2182    2238    2275    2344

Korea ................    157     583    1074    2623    4531    5141    5620    6506    6862
New Zealand ..........   2.65    5.48    8.98   13.98   14.79   15.06   15.41   16.04   16.62
Singapore ............   2.00    3.20    5.43    6.85    8.49    9.61   10.39   11.73   12.25
Sri Lanka ............   1.97    3.58    7.58   14.05   20.20   22.32   24.45   26.49       -
Taiwan ...............  15.17   36.13   59.60  105.68  138.27  146.79  156.83  162.87  169.48

Austria ..............  78.46  114.78  156.75  201.07  234.70  245.38  254.07  261.18  267.62
Belgium .............. 235.10  382.88  532.39  640.60  741.27  771.23  785.47  801.77  817.19
Denmark ..............  36.00   60.98   86.18  111.65  123.96  129.00  134.77  139.86  145.54
Finland ..............  16.88   30.64   50.56   80.56   95.19   99.76  105.65  108.24  111.40

France ...............  19.34   37.73   67.49   84.38   95.14   97.76   99.76  101.91  104.94
Germany 2 ............  15.48   22.23   28.04   35.37   41.90   43.84   46.14   47.85   49.06
Greece ...............     55     159     506    1071    1659    1876    2124    2309       -
Ireland ..............   1.36    2.89    5.55    7.03    8.12    8.28    8.46    8.66    8.95

Italy ................   3048    6966   14563   20900   24858   25591   26398   27352   28528
Luxembourg ...........    239     352     464     559     648     680     688     698       -
Netherlands ..........  16.59   23.93   29.04   32.90   37.32   37.84   38.52   38.91   40.26
Norway ...............  35.29   57.20   89.11  134.26  143.47  147.92  154.44  161.78  168.10

Portugal .............  40.26  103.28  263.37  538.11  724.15  763.09  804.35  860.39  927.61
Spain ................    145     422     792    1161    1481    1545    1604    1712    1781
Sweden ...............  29.73   52.91   83.12  123.98  137.16  143.64  153.14  163.46  169.99
Switzerland ..........  15.72   18.57   23.71   29.00   33.45   34.06   34.61   35.03   35.10
United Kingdom .......   1.52    3.25    4.84    7.12    8.27    8.36    8.66    9.05    9.44
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

For currency units, see note to table 6.

Dash means data not available.

1  Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.
2  Former West Germany.

Source:  U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 1998.

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