A CHARTBOOK OF HARTBOOK OF

INTERNATIONAL NTERNATIONAL

 LABOR COMPARISO

OMPARISO

THE AMERICAS MERICAS  ASIA-PACIFIC 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR  JUNE 
Material contained in this document is in the public 

domain and may be reproduced, fully or partially, without permission of the Federal Government. Source 

credit is requested.This document is updated each January and June and is available on the Internet at: http://www.dol.gov/asp/welcome.html.
A CHARTBOOK OF HARTBOOK OF

INTERNATIONAL NTERNATIONAL

 LABOR COMPARISO

OMPARISO

THE AMERICAS MERICAS  ASIA-PACIFIC 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR  JUNE 
FOREWORD

All countries are unique and their cultures, histories, economies, and the challenges they face can be very different. Yet despite these differences, the economies of theworld are becoming increasingly interrelated as technology and world trade grow. As a result, local economies are increasingly affected by changes in worldwide markets.For the United States to continue to succeed in the global economy and create more jobs at home, it is important to understand the economic relationships that are transforming the world. U.S. workers have long enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the world—thanks to technology, the flexibility of our workforce, and the remarkable productivity ofour workers. To preserve these advantages, it is critical thatU.S. workers have the skills necessary to compete in the worldwide economy of the 21st century.By understanding how the United States compares with other advanced and emerging economies, our nation will be better prepared to take the steps necessary to ensure that our workforce and our economy continue to thrive and prosper. Therefore, this Chartbook of International Labor Comparisons

 

provides a comparative labor market perspective—including employment levels, jobless rates, hours worked, labor costs, and productivity trends.

As the charts reveal, the In other cases, our trading This information provides States stands today in relathe world. It can assist poa course that will help prechallenges of tomorrow. 

relevant and informative.Elaine L. ChaoSecretary of Labor

ii | Foreword
PREFACE

This chartbook focuses on the labor market situation in selected countries in the 1995-2005 period. Each chart in sections 1 through 4 includes countries in North America (the United States, Canada, and Mexico) and selected Asian-Pacific and European countries. Weighted aggregates for 15 European Union countries (EU-15) are shown on most charts. These represent European Union member countries prior to the expansion of the European Union to 25 countries on May 1, 2004 and to 27 countries on January 1, 2007. The EU-15 countries are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Due to the lack of suitable data, some of the countries do not appear on all charts. It should be noted that the selected countries are not representative of all of Europe and the Asian-Pacific region; rather, they tend to be the more industrialized economies in these regions. In the final section, several indicators are presented for five large emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation. The appendix describes the definitions, sources, and methods used to compile the data in the chartbook. For some series, the appendix provides cautions about the exact comparability of the measures. Section 1, on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, shows charts that portray overall measures of comparative living standards. Section 2 highlights the state of the labor market by comparing major labor force, employment, and unemployment indicators. Section 3 examines the competitive position of the United States in the global marketplace by comparing hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, trends inmanufacturing labor productivity and unit labor costs, and manufacturing output as a percent of world manufacturing output. Section 4 includes charts that compare public expenditures on labor market programs, regulation measures on labor and product markets, taxes on labor, and 

foreign trade in goods. Section for the large emerging economThe charts are color coded ablue, Asian-Pacific countries yellow. A different color schethan one chart-bar per countremerging economies charts in The chartbook was a coopeDepartment of Labor: the Bu

the Office of the Assistant Secof Labor Statistics (BLS). Sin

market data of foreign countriedata. The chartbook is repreprogram of international labor c

and indicator coverage, BLS Organization for Economic Coother international organizationA team led by Marie-Claire SLabor Statistics (DFLS) in cooSwinnerton, and Rebecca Dil

and Labor Research and Lisa The following persons compr

Rich Esposito, Susan Fleck, Gary Martin, Jennifer Raynor, Chief of DFLS, and Ronald provided overall guidance. 
CONTENTS

iv | Contents

Section 1. Gross Domestic Product Per Capita 11.1 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, 2005 21.2 Average annual growth rates for real GDP per capita, 1995-

2005 

3

Section 2. Labor Market Indicators 52.1 Size of the labor force, 2005 62.2 Average annual growth rates for the labor force, 1995-2005 72.3 Labor force participation rates by sex, 2005 82.4 Labor force participation rates for youth, 2005 92.5 Labor force participation rates for older workers, 2005 102.6 Employment as a percent of the working-age population, 

2005 11

2.7 Average annual growth rates for employment, 1995-2005 12 2.8 Average annual growth rates for full-time and part-time 

employment, 1995-2005 13

2.9 Annual hours worked per employed person, 1995 and 2005 142.10 Unemployment rates, 2005 15

2.11 Unemployment rates for youth, 2005 16

2.12 Ratio of youth to adult unemployment rates, 2005 172.13 Persons unemployed one year or longer, 2005 18

2.14 Ratio of unemployment rate of persons without high school 

degrees to that of persons with college or university degrees, 2004 19

2.15 Educational attainment of the adult population, 2004 20 

Section 3. CompetitivManufacturing 3.1 Hourly compensation c3.2 Average annual growth 

1995-2005 

3.3 Employer social insura

taxes as a percent of h

3.4 Average annual growth 

1995-2005 

3.5 Average annual growth 

hours worked, 1995-20

3.6 Average annual growth 

costs, 1995-2005 

3.7 Manufacturing output a

output, 2005 

Section 4. Other Econ4.1 Public expenditures on 

of GDP, 2004-05 

4.2 Measures of regulation 4.3 Share of labor costs ta

contributions, 2005 

4.4 Dependency ratios, 20

4.5 Trade in goods as a pe  
Section 5. Indicators for Large Emerging Economies 355.1 World population distribution, 2005 365.2 Age composition of the population, 2005 375.3 Dependency ratios, 2005 and projections to 2025 38

5.4 GDP per capita, 2005 395.5 GDP per employed person, 1995 and 2004 40

5.6 Labor force participation rates by sex, 2005 415.7 Trade in goods as a percent of GDP, 2005 42

5.8 Manufacturing output as a percent of world manufacturing 

output, 2005 43

Appendix. Definitions, Sources, and Methods A1

Gross

Domestic

Product

Per Capita

Gross Domestic Product (GU.S. dollars using Purchamost widely used inccomparisons of living stanincome measures do noaffecting economic well-bsafety, and cultural resourcPPPs are the number of fogoods and services in a fobe bought with one dollar in to equalize the purchasing are used instead of exchanrates do not necessarily refdifferent currencies. Charts 1.1 and 1.2 comparand the trend from 1995 shown on various charts in are also included. Data wecapita for Taiwan. 
42.1

34.0

10.2

32.0 30.9 31.0

21.9 22.5

29.9 29.7

33.8 34.4

30.2 29.8

40.9

25.5

0

1020304050

U.S. CanadaMexico Australia

Hong KongSARJapan Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherl

NOTE: Hong Kong SAR stands for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. Purchasing Power Parity (PP

required to buy goods and services in a foreign country equivalent to what can be bought with one dollar in the United 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics and World Bank.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, 200converted at PPP rates

2 | Gross Domestic Product Per Capita

Thousands of U.S. dollars

 Norway, the United States, and Ireland were the countries with the highest GDP per 

economies compared.

 The other economies showed levels of GDP per capita between 82 percent (Denma

the U.S. level.

CHART 1.1
NOTE: Hong Kong SAR stands for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. 

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, including special tabulations using data from the Organization for Economic Coo

and national sources.

2.2 2.3 2.2 2.5

2.8

1.1

3.7

1.9

2.9

1.8 1.9 1.7 1.6

1.3

6.3

0.9

02468

U.S. CanadaMexico Australia

Hong Kong SARJapan Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIrelandItaly Netherla

Average annual growth rates for real GDP per 

CHART 1.2

 In most of the 21 economies, real GDP per capita grew during the decade at a rate o

the U.S. growth rate was in the middle of the range.

 Ireland and the Republic of Korea registered the greatest increases in real GDP per 

smallest increases.

Percent

Labor Market

Indicators

Charts 2.1 through 2.15 shemployment, unemploymeof the labor force is show(chart 2.2) sums up chunemployment over the pe(charts 2.3-2.5) express the either working or unemploysex and for four selected aworkers.Employment and unemplfunctioning of labor markeCharts 2.6-2.9 compare population employed, emptime and part-time employemployed person. Chartrates, long-duration unebetween unemployment ratAll charts cover 19 or 20 shown on all but three of thindicators were not availaband some indicators were n
24.2

2.0

40.8

27.1

4.0 2.8

181.9

2.22.2

23.7

65.9

10.5

42.5

17.1

149.3

0

4080

120160200

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherla

Millions

Size of the labor force, 2005

6 | Labor Market Indicators

CHART 2.1

 The U.S. labor force was the largest, by far, among the 20 countries compared. The EU-15 countries combined had a larger labor force than the United States.

NOTE: 2004 for Singapore.SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International La
0.7

3.3

0.4

0.9

0.3 0.4

0.9

2.7

1.8

1.3

0.0

1.6

2.0

1.7

1.2

01234

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherland

Percent

Average annual growth rates for the labor for

CHART 2.2

 The other North American countries and the Asian-Pacific countries, except for Japa

growth rates than the United States. 

 U.S. labor force growth outpaced that of the EU-15 average; in Europe, labor force g

Spain, and Portugal than in the United States.

NOTE: 1995-2004 for Singapore.SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International La
60.6

71.6

65.5 62.7

70.3

66.1 64.7

74.3 76.2

71.3

73.1 73.0

78.9

72.8 73.3

61.4 59.3

40.7

58.1

47.7 50.3

60.1

54.9

48.7 51.0

60.3

50.3 51.4

37.9

51.0

0

20406080

100

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherla

Men Women

Labor force participation rates by sex, 2005

 Across countries, women’s labor force participation rates varied more than men’s ra

countries, New Zealand, and Australia, women participated in the labor force at abowomen. Italian and Mexican women had the lowest participation rates.

 Participation rates for men were at least 70 percent in 12 out of 21 countries; the low

Italy and France.

8 | Labor Market Indicators

Percent

CHART 2.3

NOTE: 2004 for Singapore.SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International La
43.7

53.4

35.5

60.6

16.3 9.1

54.4

28.7

42.3

58.5

12.2

30.2 25.4

12.8

0

255075

100

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherlands

Participation rates for teenagers Percent

NOTE: Teenagers are defined as persons ages 15 to 19 or ages 16 to 19.SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Labor force participation rates for youth, 200

CHART 2.4

 Labor force participation rates varied far more for teenagers than for persons ages 2

percent (the Republic of Korea) to 60.6 percent (Australia).

 Persons ages 20 to 24 participated in the labor market to a much greater extent than 

74.6

60.4 69.2 57.2 71.8 64.9 74.8 76.6 55.1 70.3 72.2 52.1 

78.0 81.6 

0

255075

100

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherlands

Participation rates for persons ages 20 to 24 Percent
62.9 57.9 53.6 55.5 66.6 60.2 71.0 47.6

33.0

62.9

43.6 52.1 53.2

32.6

0

255075

100

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherland

Participation rates for persons ages 55 to 64 Percent

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Labor force participation rates for older work

10 | Labor Market Indicators

CHART 2.5

 Persons ages 55 to 64 participated in the labor market far less in Italy and Austria th Participation rates for persons ages 65 and over varied widely from 1.3 percent (Fra

Republic of Korea); the U.S. rate of 15.1 percent was four times higher than the EU-

15.1 8.1

29.2

7.6

19.8

30.0

11.7 3.8 3.0 5.4 1.3 3.4 8.3 3.1 

0

255075

100

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherlands

Participation rates for persons ages 65 and over Percent
44.9

58.8

51.0 51.2

61.9

55.2 51.7

61.8 64.6

57.3 58.5 62.1 56.6 62.7 63.4

0

20406080

100

U.S.

CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherla

NOTE: 2004 for Singapore. The working-age population is defined as persons ages 15 or 16 and over.SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International La

Employment as a percent of the working-age 

Percent

CHART 2.6

 New Zealand, Canada, and the United States had the highest percentages of the wo In Italy, less than half of the working-age population was employed.
1.3

2.0

2.2

1.9

-0.2

1.1

2.0

2.4

1.2

0.2

0.5

1.1

0.1

4.2

1.1

-1

012345

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherland

Percent

Average annual growth rates for employment

12 | Labor Market Indicators

CHART 2.7

 Ireland and Spain had the highest growth rates in employment. Employment decline U.S. employment growth outpaced that of 8 of the 12 European countries; the rema

employment growth than the United States, except for Japan and the Republic of Ko

NOTE: 1995-2004 for Singapore. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International La
NOTE: 1995-2004 for Mexico. Full-time employment is defined as persons usually working over 30 hours per week in 

salary workers only. Data for other countries refer to total employment, which includes wage and salary workers, self-

workers. SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

1.5

2.0

2.8

1.6

-1.0

0.6

1.9

0.8

-0.4

0.4

1.0

-0.8

3.8

0.7 0.9 

1.7

0.5

2.8

1.5

2.3

8.7

2.4

3.1

4.1

1.1

0.5

4.5

7.1

4.6

-3-1

13579

11

U.S. CanadaMexicoAustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherlands

Full-time Part-time

Average annual growth rates for full-time and employment, 1995-2005

Percent

CHART 2.8

 Full-time employment grew faster than part-time employment in six countries, includ

majority of countries, part-time employment was the main or sole source of employm

 Full-time employment growth was strongest in Ireland and Spain, both of which also 

employment.
NOTE: 1995 and 2004 for the Republic of Korea. 

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Annual hours worked per employed person, 1

1849 1775 1863 1872 1884

2658

1842

1646

1499 1651 1529 1823 1876

1344 

1435 1638 1791 

1 1535 551 163 1809 6 1909 17 1811 1775 37 1804

2394

0

100020003000

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan Korea, Rep. of New ZealandAustria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherlands

1995 2005

14 | Labor Market Indicators

Hours

CHART 2.9

 In 2005, annual hours worked per employed person in European countries, except It

in the North American and Asian-Pacific countries. Koreans worked the highest num

 The Republic of Korea and Ireland experienced the largest reductions in annual hou
7.8

4.3

11.2

4.8

9.9

5.2

7.9

4.8

3.7 3.7

4.5

5.1

3.6

6.0

5.1

02468

1012

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIrelandItaly Netherlan

NOTE: 2004 for Singapore. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International La

Percent

Unemployment rates, 2005

CHART 2.10

 Most of the European countries had higher unemployment rates than the United Sta All but one of the Asian-Pacific countries had lower unemployment rates than the Un
Unemployment rates for youth, 2005

37.0

11.0

14.8

28.4

7.6

13.5

19.1 20.0

12.5 12.9

10.4

15.2

7.0

15.4 16.6

8.8 8.9 

6.3

7.7 8.4 9.9

6.6

15.6

8.7

6.3

8.1

21.8

15.9

7.4

21.4

0

10203040

U.S.

Canada

Mexico

Australia

Japan

Korea, Rep. of

New Zealand

Singapore

EU-15

Austria

Denmark

France

Germany

Ireland

Italy

Netherlan

Teenagers 20- to 24-year-olds

Percent

16 | Labor Market Indicators

CHART 2.11

 Italian teenagers had the highest unemployment rate, followed by their counterparts  Unemployment rates for teenagers were higher than those for 20- to 24-year-olds in 

and Germany.

NOTE: 2004 for Singapore. Teenagers are defined as persons ages 15 to 19 or ages 16 to 19.SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International La
NOTE: 2004 for Singapore. Youth are defined as persons under age 25 and over age 14 or 15. Adults are defined a

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International La

Ratio of youth to adult unemployment rates, 

2.8

2.3

2.5

2.9

2.2

3.3

3.8

2.0

2.3 2.4

1.8

2.8

1.5

2.4

3.8

012345

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherlan

Ratio

CHART 2.12

 Unemployment rates were higher for youth than for adults. The ratios of youth to ad

highest in Sweden, New Zealand, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

 The smallest differences in the unemployment rates for youth versus those for adult

Denmark.
 Long-duration unemployment was least prevalent in the Republic of Korea and Mex

 The EU-15 countries combined had a relatively high percentage of persons unemplo

than half of the unemployed were without work for at least one year in Germany and 

Persons unemployed one year or longer, 2005 as a percent of total unemployment

4

52.2

34.3

54.0

42.5

25.3 25.9

44.3

9.4

0.8

33.3

17.7

2.4

9.6

11.8

0

204060

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherlands 

Percent

18 | Labor Market Indicators

CHART 2.13

NOTE: 2004 for Sweden. SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Ratio of unemployment rate of persons without h

that of persons with college or university degree

2.6

1.3

1.7

1.5

2.4

3.7

2.0

4.7

1.7

3.2

2.5

0.6

2.1

3.1

4.2

2.0 1.9

2.9

1.6 

2

1.9

2.8

2.4

1.7

0.8

1.4

1.9

0.6

0246

U.S.

Canada 

Mexico 

Australia 

Japan

Korea, Rep. of

New Zealand

Austria 

Denmark

France 

Germany

Ireland 

Italy

Netherlands

Ratio Men Women

NOTE: 2003 for Japan. The unemployment rates used to calculate these ratios are for men and women ages 25 to 6SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

CHART 2.14

 Unemployment rates were higher for persons without high school degrees, except fo

and for women in the Republic of Korea.

 The unemployment rates of persons without high school degrees were at least three 

college or university degrees for men in Germany, Ireland, Austria, and the United K

women in the United States. 
48 39

7

33

47

44 53 62

51

41

59

35

38

4

39 45

16

31 37 30 25 18 32 24 25 28 11 2

2

51

37

16

35

17

26 22 20 16

36

77

13 16

0

20406080

100

U.S. Canada Mexico Australia Japan Korea, Rep. of New Zealand Austria Denmark France GermanyIreland Italy Netherlands

Below upper secondary Upper secondary and post-secondary 

NOTE: 2003 for Japan. The adult population is defined as persons ages 25 to 64. Below upper secondary education Upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education is equivalent to high school and also includes trade schoohigher education provided by a college or university.SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Educational attainment of the adult populatioby highest level of education attained

20 | Labor Market Indicators

CHART 2.15

 More than one-third of the adult population has tertiary (university) education in Can

and Sweden.

 In Mexico, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, more than half of the adult population has less 

education.

Percent
Competitiveness

Indicators for

Manufacturing

Relative levels and chcompensation costs and labor productivity (output pused to partially assess indata are available on a manufacturing sector. Chand trends of hourly compein manufacturing. The dmarket exchange rates. Ccosts denominated in Unational wage and benecurrencies, as well as freqin currency exchange ratesin U.S. dollars provide comcosts; they do not providpurchasing power of woemployer social insurance as a percent of hourly compCharts 3.4 through 3.7 proproductivity growth rates, thin terms of changes in outplabor costs, and shares olabor costs are defined as unit of output. Changes in of changes in hourly wproductivity. Unit labor cosrises faster than labor pproductivity rises faster thcosts decline.The compensation costs incountry coverage in this and the EU-15 are shown ocoverage is limited to 15 ec
 Canada, Australia, and eight European countries had higher hourly compensation co

 Hourly compensation costs were well under $10 in Mexico, Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan

Hourly compensation costs, 2005 for production workers in manufacturing in U.S. dollars

21

22.76

33.00

24.63

35.47

29.42

27.52

6.38 7.66

14.97 13.56

21.76

5.65

24.91

2.63

23.65 23.82

0

1020304050

U.S. CanadaMexico Australia

Hong Kong SARJapan Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeTaiwanEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Neth

NOTE: Hong Kong SAR stands for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

U.S. Dollars

22 | Competitiveness Indicators for Manufacturing

CHART 3.1
3.3

3.7

4.5

4.9

1.6

-0.8

6.4

3.8

0.1

0.6

3.1

1.5

3.4

2.5

0.9

5.2

3

-2

02468

U.S. CanadaMexico Australia

Hong Kong SARJapan Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeTaiwanEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Net

Average annual growth rates for hourly compensatifor production workers in manufacturing in U.S. dollars

Percent

NOTE: Hong Kong SAR stands for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

CHART 3.2

 Growth in hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars was similar for the United State Only Japan had a decrease in hourly compensation costs.
22.5

19.4

10.9

20.3

8.5

17.0

21.7

4.5

14.0

12.1

23.5

27.1

10.3

31.2

22.6

12.7

30

0

10203040

U.S. CanadaMexico Australia

Hong Kong SARJapan Korea, Rep. of New Zealand Singapore TaiwanEU-15Austria Denmark France GermanyIrelandItaly Neth

Percent

24 | Competitiveness Indicators for Manufacturing

Employer social insurance expenditures and other laof hourly compensation costs, 2005 for production workers in manufacturing

NOTE: Hong Kong SAR stands for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

CHART 3.3

 Employer social insurance costs as a percent of hourly compensation costs were sim

the EU-15 as a whole, but U.S. costs were higher than in all of the non-European co

 In Europe, social insurance costs as a percent of total hourly compensation costs ra

had higher costs than the United States, while Denmark and Ireland had much lowe
3.2

0.1

3.5

4.3

2.3

5.5

8.9

3.3

3.0

1.9

5.6

02468

10

U.S.CanadaAustralia Japan

Korea, Rep. ofTaiwanDenmark FranceGermany Italy Netherlands

Percent

Average annual growth rates for manufacturi1995-2005 CHART 3.4

 The Republic of Korea had, by far, the largest increase in manufacturing labor produ

United States, and Taiwan.

 Italy recorded the lowest gains in manufacturing labor productivity, followed by Spain 

NOTE: Productivity is defined as output per hour worked.SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
3.3

2.8

1.8

0.9

4.9

2.5

1.8

-0.3

1.7 

-2.2

0.9

-1.2

-2.3

-1.5

-0.6

-1.5 -1.7 -1.6 -1.

0.8

7.3

-0.4

-4-2

02468

U.S.CanadaAustralia Japan

Korea, Rep. ofTaiwanDenmarkFranceGermany Italy Netherlands

Output Hours worked

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Percent

26 | Competitiveness Indicators for Manufacturing

Average annual growth rates for manufacturiworked, 1995-2005 CHART 3.5

 Manufacturing output increases were highest in the Republic of Korea and Sweden;  The United States showed the third largest decline in hours worked; hours worked in

Canada.
 Unit labor costs (ULC) are a component of total production costs and product prices

a country is becoming more cost-competitive.

 ULC declined in over half of the economies shown, including the United States.

-4.0

-3.7

-5.2

-1.8 -1.8

3.3

-0.3

0.5

1.8

2.1

-0.9

-6-5-4-3-2-1

01234

U.S.

CanadaAustralia Japan Korea, Rep. ofTaiwanDenmarkFranceGermany Italy Netherlands

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Percent

Average annual growth rates for manufacturing uniin U.S. dollars CHART 3.6
20.6

2.7 1.7 1.1

13.3

2.7

0.2 0.7 0.4

3.5

8.2

0.7

4.0

27.6

05

1015202530

U.S.

CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherlands 

Manufacturing output as a percent of world m2005

28 | Competitiveness Indicators for Manufacturing 

Percent

CHART 3.7

 The United States is, by far, the world’s leading producer of manufactured goods. O

and Germany are the next largest producers.

 The EU-15 countries’ combined share of world manufacturing output surpassed that 

NOTE: 2004 for the United Kingdom.SOURCE: United Nations.
Other

Economic

Indicators

Charts 4.1 through 4.5 shand population issues, som4.1-4.3 compare the followlabor market programs, the regulations, and the level oChart 4.4 shows dependenan overall measure of thelderly on people of workinshow the age compositioeconomic dependency. Sopart of the labor force and sChart 4.5 compares data GDP. This indicator shows The number of countries cto 20. EU-15 data were ava
3.7

1.4 1.5

3.5

2.7

4.5

2.0

1.0

0.3

0.7

1.0

0.5

1.0

012345

U.S. CanadaAustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandAustria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy NetherlandsNo

Percent

Public expenditures on labor market programGDP, 2004-05

30 | Other Economic Indicators

NOTE: 2004 for Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sw

Fiscal year 2004 for the United States and the United Kingdom. Fiscal year 2005 for Canada, Australia, Japan, and NSOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

CHART 4.1

 Expenditures on labor market programs were less than 1 percent of GDP in the Rep

States, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

 The highest relative expenditures were in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany.
1.1

1.3

2.4

0.7

1.8

2.3

1.5 1.3

1.8

2.0

2.5

2.2

2.9

3.2

1.0 

1.9

1.1 1.2

1.4

1.7

1.1

1.4

1.1

1.5 1.3

0.9

2.2

0123456

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandAustria DenmarkFrance GermanyIrelandItaly NetherlandsN

Labor market Produc

Measures of regulation on labor and product 

CHART 4.2

 Regulations on market activity were least restrictive in the United States and the Un Portugal and Mexico were characterized by more restrictive labor markets, followed 

product markets were most pronounced in Mexico, Italy, and France.

Scale 0-6 from least to most restrictive

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
45.4

23.5

41.1 42.2

20.4

3

52.4 50.1 47.9

17.3

28.3 27.7

14.7

31.9

28.9

0

102030405060

U.S. CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New ZealandEU-15Austria DenmarkFrance GermanyIrelandItaly Netherlands 

NOTE: Data refer to single persons without children at the income of the average worker.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Percent 

32 | Other Economic Indicators

Share of labor costs taken by tax and social s2005 CHART 4.3

 For the average single worker, the combined employer-employee tax burden was low

all but one of the European countries.

 The combined employer-employee tax burden was higher in the United States than 

except Canada. 
Dependency ratios, 2005 and projections to 2

 In 2005, Mexico had the highest dependency ratio, while the Republic of Korea had  By 2025, only Mexico’s dependency ratio is expected to decrease; Japan is expecte

dependency ratio.

0.58 0.57 0.59

0.68

0.47

0.57

0.59

0.56

0.60

0.62

0.60

0.51

0.59 

0.49

0.44

0.58

0.48

0.51

0.39

0.51 0.50

0.47

0.51

0.53

0.50

0.47

0.51

0

0.47

0

0.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.8

U.S

Canada

Mexico

Australia

Japan

Korea, Rep. of

New Zealand

EU-15

Austria

Denmark

France

Germany

Ireland

Italy

Netherlands

2005 2025

Ratio

CHART 4.4

NOTE: The dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents (persons under age 15 or over age 64) to the working-age po

SOURCE: United Nations.
SOURCE: World Bank.

Trade in goods as a percent of GDP, 2005

21

61 58

33 25

69

44

81

64

45

63

90

43

368

0

50

100150200250300350400

U.S.

CanadaMexico AustraliaJapan

Korea, Rep. of New Zealand SingaporeAustria DenmarkFrance GermanyIreland Italy Netherland

Percent

34 | Other Economic Indicators

CHART 4.5

 This indicator shows the relative importance of trade in goods to an economy; the U

lowest ratios.

 The relatively high figures for Singapore and the Netherlands reflect their status as p

trans-shipments.
Indicators for

Large Emerging

Economies

Charts 5.1 through 5.8 peconomic indicators for largCharts 5.1-5.3 show popuworld population distributioand dependency ratios. comparisons are shown in 5.5 (GDP per employed peparticipation rates by sex. as a percent of GDP. Chaa percent of world manufacAll of these charts include treference point, and five China, India, Indonesia, and 
India

17%

Rest of the World

50%

In

China

20%

Brazil

3%

U.S.

5%

World population distribution, 2005 

SOURCE: United Nations.

36 | Indicators for Large Emerging Economies

CHART 5.1

 The five large emerging economies—Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and the Russia

percent of the world’s population.

 China and India together make up well over one-third of the world’s population.
Age composition of the population, 2005

66.9

66.0

70.7

62.0 

12.3

6.1 7.7 5.0 

20.8

27.8

21.6

33.0 

0

102030405060708090

100

U.S. Brazil China India 

Under age 15 Ages 15 to 64 Over age 6

SOURCE: United Nations.

Percent

CHART 5.2

 The Russian Federation had the highest proportion of persons over age 64 and the  India had the largest proportion of persons under age 15, accounting for about one-t

population.
• In 2005 India had the highest dependency ratio; however, between 2005 and 2025, 

experience the largest decline. 

• By 2025, it is expected that the United States will have the highest dependency ratio 

lowest.

Dependency ratios, 2005 and projections to 2

0.49

0.51

0.41

0.61

0

0.58

0.49

0.46

0.48

0.00.10.20.30.40.50.60.7

U.S. Brazil China India 

2005 2025

NOTE: The dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents (persons under age 15 or over age 64) to the working-age poSOURCE: United Nations.

38 | Indicators for Large Emerging Economies

Ratio

CHART 5.3
NOTE: Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is the number of foreign currency units required to buy goods and services in 

bought with one dollar in the United States.SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics and World Bank.

GDP per capita, 2005 converted at PPP rates

3.5 

6.6

8.7

42.1

0

1020304050

U.S. Brazil China India 

Thousands of U.S. dollars

CHART 5.4

 Among the five large emerging economies, the Russian Federation and Brazil had th

quarter to one-fifth of the U.S. level; India and Indonesia had the lowest, at less than 

 China was in the middle of the group, with a GDP per capita at nearly 16 percent of 
 Among the five large emerging economies, GDP per employed person was highest 

Federation.

 China had the largest increase in GDP per employed person from 1995 to 2004, wit

of 5.5 percent.

NOTE: Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is the number of foreign currency units required to buy goods and services in 

bought with one dollar in the United States.SOURCE: International Labor Office.

GDP per employed person, 1995 and 2004 in 1990 U.S. dollars converted at PPP rates

51.8

14.1

5.1 4.3

8

6.2

8.2

15.4

62.1

0

10203040506070

U.S. Brazil China India 

Thousands of 1990 U.S. dollars 1995 2004

40 | Indicators for Large Emerging Economies

CHART 5.5
Labor force participation rates by sex, 2005

81.5 83.6

87.8

84.3

87.1

36.0

75.8

61.0

70.1

0

20406080

100

U.S. Brazil China India Ind

Men Women

NOTE: Participation rates are for the working-age population (persons ages 15 to 64).

SOURCE: World Bank.

Percent

CHART 5.6

 China had the highest labor force participation rates for both men and women. The participation rate for women was lowest in India.
Trade in goods as a percent of GDP, 2005

21.2

24.7

63.8

28.2

0

10203040506070

U.S. Brazil China India 

SOURCE: World Bank.

Percent

42 | Indicators for Large Emerging Economies

CHART 5.7

 This indicator shows the relative importance of trade in goods to an economy. China had the highest percentage of trade in goods to GDP, followed by Indonesia a

United States had the lowest proportion.
U.S.

21%

Brazil

2%

China

12%

R

In

Rest of the World

60%

India

2%

Manufacturing output as a percent of world m2005

CHART 5.8

 The U.S. share of world manufacturing output was larger than the combined share o

economies.

 Among the large emerging economies, China had the largest share of world manufa

SOURCE: United Nations.

Definitions,

Sources, and 

Methods

Intr

This chartbook is based parti

Labor Statistics (BLS) program 

force, compensation, and produindicator coverage, BLS data Organization for Economic Cooother organizations. BLS adjusts foreign statistics thereby aiding users in making Comparability issues arise definitions, time periods, andescriptions of the BLS compadetailed information can be fwhich are available on the Bhttp://www.bls.gov/fls/. BLS available free of charge by coStatistics, 2 Massachusetts AD.C. 20212-0001, phone (202) To increase country coverage labor market indicators chartsupplemented by data mainInternational Labor OrganizatWorld Bank, and national sousources are judged reasonably otherwise noted. The charts oin manufacturing (charts 3.1-3.6
A2 | Definitions, Sources, and Methods

sources. All the data charted are from the BLS series for these indicators. To provide other indicators of interest, 21 of the charts (charts 2.4, 2.5, 2.8, 2.9, 2.13-2.15, 3.7, and all charts in sections 4 and 5) are based on statistics compiled by other organizations, mainly OECD, but also the United Nations, World Bank, and ILO. Discussion of the data from the non-BLS sources is included below. Although some adjustments may have been made by the source organizations to enhance comparability, these data generally are not considered fully comparable across countries. Where applicable, some caveats concerning comparability are noted. Country coverage varies by indicator. Twenty-two economies appear on the hourly compensation charts (charts 3.1-3.3); while 15 economies are included on the productivity and unit labor costs charts (charts 3.4-3.6). Coverage in the remaining charts, except those in section 5, varies from 18 to 21 countries. In addition, weighted aggregates for 15 European Union countries (EU-15) are shown onmost charts. These represent European Union member countries prior to the expansion of the European Union to 25 countries on May 1, 2004 and to 27 countries on January 1, 2007. The 15 countries are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It should be noted that some countries for which data are available are not included on the charts for analytical or presentation purposes. Fourteen countries appear on all charts in the first four sections: the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In addition, data for Mexico, New Zealand, Austria, Ireland, and Portugal appear on almost all charts in sections 1-4; data for Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, and Taiwan were only available for some charts. Section 5 covers the United States, which is used as a reference point, and five large emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation. 

In most cases, 2005 is the latcharts. All data are either annuThere are some breaks in the employment data for trends fbreaks is documented in the sodo not substantially affect the trIn the descriptions that follow, while others warrant individual t

Gross Do

(charts 1.1

A country's Gross Domestic 

value added by all producers in of the gross output of produceand services used in productiosize of an economy. Howenecessarily measuring the wethat country. A better measure Gross National Income (GNI)National Product (GNP), measuadded claimed by residents. 

primary income from non-residdefined as compensation of emany countries, the inflows abalance out, leaving little differefor some countries, the differeGDP was 18 percent higher tha
Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) are currency conversion rates that allow output in different currency units to be expressed in a common unit of value. A PPP is the ratio between the number of units of a country's currency and the number of U.S. dollars required to purchase an equivalent basket of goods and services within each respective 

country. 

GDP per capita (charts 1.1, 1.2, and 5.4) GDP per capita converted at PPP rates (charts 1.1 and 5.4). The 

comparisons shown in charts 1.1 and 5.4 are based on measures of GDP converted at PPP rates and on population size. Measures for chart 1.1 are taken from the data underlying a periodic report published by BLS for the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. For the remaining countries, the measures are based on data published by the World Bank. For chart 5.4, BLS data are used for the United States while the comparisons shown for the emerging economies are based on World Bank data. 

Source: BLS, "Comparative Real Gross Domestic Product Per Capita and Per 

Employed Person, Fifteen Countries, 1960–2005," June 16, 2006, <http://www.bls.gov/fls/>; and World Bank, World Development Indicators 

Database, <http://www.worldbank.org/>. 

Average annual growth rates for real GDP per capita (chart 1.2). Real 

GDP is GDP that has been adjusted for overall price changes over time, in order to remove the effects of inflation. Change in real GDP per capita over time is the result of changes in both a country's real GDP and in its population. For chart 1.2, the estimates of real GDP are based on data from BLS, OECD, and national sources. Measures are taken from the data underlying a periodic report published by BLS for the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the 

Republic of Korea, Austria, Belthe Netherlands, Norway, SweHong Kong are from the Hong Kfor Singapore, from Statisticcountries, from OECD. 

Source: BLS, "Comparative Real 

Employed Person, Fifteen Co<http://www.bls.gov/fls/>; World 

Database, <http://www.worldba

<http://www.oecd.org>; Hong K<http://www.info.gov.hk/censtatd/><http://www.singstat.gov.sg/>. 

GDP per employed pers

This indicator gives GDP measPPP rates divided by the nuextensive discussion of the construction and some limitdocument. The use of employed persons not standardize sufficiently the 

hours worked, on average, markedly across countries and This indicator may be viewed aon average to each employed inputs or factors of production. Source: ILO, Key Indicators of th

2005, table 18a. 
A4 | Definitions, Sources, and Methods

Labor market indicators

(charts 2.1-2.15 and 5.6) 

Charts in section 2 depict aspects of the labor force. Charts 2.1-2.3, 

2.6, 2.7, and 2.10-2.12 contain BLS comparative data on labor force, employment, and unemployment and are supplemented by data from OECD and ILO. This comprises the first set of charts discussed in this section. Charts 2.4, 2.5, 2.8, 2.13, 2.14, and 5.6 also show data on labor force, employment, and unemployment, but data are from OECD, except for chart 5.6, which uses World Bank data. This second set of charts is discussed separately. Chart 2.9, annual hours worked per employed person, and chart 2.15, educational attainment of the adult population, are discussed individually at the end of this section.  

Labor force, employment, and unemployment (charts 2.1-2.3, 2.6, 2.7, 2.10-2.12)  BLS comparative measures of the civilian labor force, employment, unemployment, and related indicators are used for the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Other organizations provided the data for Mexico, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, the EU-15, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, and Spain. In the BLS comparisons program, adjustments are made to each country's published data, if necessary, to provide measures approximately consistent with U.S. definitions. The data are adjusted to the U.S. concepts used in the Current Population Survey (CPS), the official source of U.S. labor force data. To adjust the data, BLS employs data from several sources, including data obtained by special request from the central statistical offices of the foreign countries. Further information on the nature of the adjustments for each country can be found in the BLS source document cited at the end of this section. 

The labor force is the sum of tunemployment rate is the ratio the United States, the unemplofor work in the reference week, weeks. Those persons waiting seeking work to be classified as persons who during the referenpaid employees, worked in the

own farm, or worked 15 houenterprise operated by a famifrom work but who had jobs or as employed. The labor force force to the population of workStates and ages 15 or 16 aemployment-to-population ratio population of working age. The BLS data are supplement2.12 with data mainly from OEThe OECD and ILO data are are based on the ILO guidelinemployment, and unemploymethe Internet at http://www.ilo.org/public/englishThe ILO guidelines have beconsequently, definitions used similar in outline and purpose guidelines facilitate cross-coucountries toward a common OECD and ILO data are reasoBLS data, although some adjuby BLS are not made by OECD 
OECD produces a series of "standardized unemployment rates" (SURs) that are adjusted to ILO concepts. In recent years, the OECD series yielded unemployment rates virtually identical to the BLS comparative series of unemployment rates for the countries common to both programs, except for Canada and Germany. ILO produces a series of "ILO-comparable" measures of unemployment rates that are adapted to ILO concepts. This series is closely comparable with the results from the BLS and OECD comparisons programs. The OECD unemployment series are used to broaden the coverage of the unemployment data on chart 2.10. The unemployment rates for the following countries are obtained from the OECD SURs: the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the EU-15, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, and Spain. The ILO-comparable series is the source of the unemployment rate for Singapore. The unemployment rate for Mexico is not from the OECD SURs or ILO-comparable series; it is the figure from Mexico’s labor force survey as published by the OECD and it is not comparable to the other rates shown. The OECD data used to broaden the country coverage of charts 2.1-2.3, 2.6, 2.7, 2.11, and 2.12 are not adjusted by OECD for comparability to the extent that the SURs are adjusted; OECD does not publish standardized labor force and employment figures or standardized unemployment figures for subgroups. Data for Singapore on these charts are from the ILO-comparable series and include the armed forces. For a full discussion of comparability issues regarding the BLS, OECD, and ILO series, see Constance Sorrentino, "International unemployment rates: how comparable are they?" Monthly Labor 

Review, June 2000, pp. 3-20. This article is available on the Internet at 

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/06/art1full.pdf. 

Source: BLS, "Comparative Civi

1960-2006," March 19, 2007, <h

Statistics 1985-2005, 2006 Ed., 

Employment and Labour Market S

and ILO, LABORSTA IL

<http://laborsta.ilo.org>. 

Labor force, employme(charts 2.4, 2.5, 2.8, 2.13, 2The charts discussed below ardata sources. Data from otheBLS labor force comparisons pparticipation rates by age (chaeconomies (chart 5.6), full-time duration of unemployment educational attainment (chart 2Labor force participation rate

participation rate for a given ag

the total (or civilian) labor force (or civilian) population for the afor youth in chart 2.4: teens (p15) and young adults (persons charted for older workers in cpersons ages 65 and over. Daand are generally derived from no attempt to standardize thAccording to OECD, internatiomade with caution. In countrieinto the armed forces, their 

considerably according to whearmed forces. Differences icomparability of the data. 
A6 | Definitions, Sources, and Methods

Chart 5.6 presents labor force participation rates by sex for large emerging economies. In this chart, the labor force participation rate is the percentage of the labor force as a share of the population ages 15 to 64. These participation rates are conceptually different from those shown in chart 2.3, for which there is no upper age limit. It should be noted that in many developing countries, children under age 15 work full or part time and in some high-income countries, many workers postpone retirement past age 65. As a result, labor force participation rates calculated using age limits of 15 to 64 may systematically over- or under-estimate actual rates. Furthermore, the data, which are from the World Bank, have not been adjusted for comparability across countries. Source: OECD, Employment and Labour Market Statistics Database, 

<http://www.oecd.org/> and World Bank, World Development Indicators, 

Washington, D.C., 2006, table 2.2. 

Rates of growth in full-time and part-time employment (chart 2.8). 

OECD has adjusted full-time and part-time employment to a common conceptual basis, insofar as possible. Full-time employment is defined 

as persons usually working over 30 hours per week in their main job. Part-time employment is defined as persons usually working 30 or fewer hours per week in their main job. Data are limited to persons declaring usual hours worked. Except for the United States, the data relate to total employment. For the United States, the data cover wage and salary employment only. This difference should not materially affect the comparisons because paid workers account for more than 90 percent of total U.S. employment. The data are obtained from labor force surveys and refer to persons ages 15 or 16 and over, except for Norway and Sweden, where the data refer to persons ages 16 to 74 and 16 to 64, respectively. 

Data for Japan are not compa

two reasons: (1) the Japanworked" rather than "usual employment in Japan is defineweek. Thus, the Japanese datthe level of full-time and part-timto track the broad trends in Republic of Korea, data also arthan “usual hours worked.” 

Source: OECD, Employment 

<http://www.oecd.org/>. 

Persons unemployed one yeunemployment (chart 2.13). 

unemployment represent the lehave been looking for workstandardized, but they are all fto persons ages 15 or 16 and where the data refer to perrespectively. 

Source: OECD, Employment OutloRatio of unemployment rate of that of persons with college Because educational systems adopted a broad classification 

Standard Classification for EduNations Educational, ScientificOECD summarizes the UNESattainment groupings—ISCED education. The OECD grouincludes ISCED 0 through 2
degrees." The grouping "tertiary-type A and advanced research programs," a subset of ISCED 5, corresponds to "with college oruniversity degrees." The data on unemployment have not been standardized but they are all from labor force surveys. The data refer to men and women ages 25 to 64. Source: OECD, Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators, 2006 Ed., Paris, 

September 2006, table A8.2a; and OECD, Employment Outlook, 2006 Ed.,

Paris, June 2006, table D. 

Annual hours worked per employed person (chart 2.9) The concept used is the total number of hours actually worked over the year divided by the average number of persons in employment. Annual hours worked per employed person are affected by legislation and agreements on normal and overtime hours. They also are influenced by factors such as the proportion of part-time workers and selfemployed, who work fewer and longer hours, respectively. The ILO standard definition for hours actually worked includes hours actually worked during normal periods of work; time worked in addition to the normal periods and generally paid at higher rates; time spent at place of work in preparation, repair, and record keeping; time spent at place of work on stand-by basis or under a guaranteed work contract; and time corresponding to short rest periods, including tea or coffee breaks. Hours actually worked should exclude hours paid for but not worked, such as: annual leave, public holidays, paid sick leave, meal breaks, and time spent on travel between home and work. Comparative data on annual hours worked based precisely on this ILO definition are not available. The comparisons shown in chart 2.9 are the published OECD data series on annual hours actually worked per employed person, which 

include some adjustments towards the above definition. The data 

generally cover all persons in epart-time workers. OECD statecomparisons of trends over thours worked levels for a gi

differences in data sources aninclude labor force surveys, esdata. Hours data report

administrative sources exclude from labor force surveys are s

estimation include direct esticomponent estimates using combination of survey-based information. Some data are conThe source of hours and emplestimates are based on actual oforce and establishment survesurvey or administrative dataZealand and the United Kingworked with a continuous labor week of the year and avoids thdays lost. OECD adjusts natiNetherlands, and Portugal, and for effective weeks worked durhours not worked due to annuthe underreporting of hours lost estimates for the Netherlands illness/accident, bad weathresponsibilities, nor do they coestimates do not accurately meData for the United States are unpublished BLS statistics of afrom the Current Employment 
A8 | Definitions, Sources, and Methods

adjusts these unpublished BLS statistics for multiple jobholding using data from the CPS to produce estimates of annual hours worked per employed person. Data for all countries are on a per employed person basis. Source: OECD, Employment and Labour Market Statistics Database, 

<http://www.oecd.org>. 

Educational attainment of the adult population (chart 2.15) As discussed for chart 2.14, OECD uses UNESCO categories for seven educational attainment groupings. In chart 2.15, these are grouped into three broad categories. The grouping “below uppersecondary” includes early childhood education (ISCED 0), primary level of education (ISCED 1), and lower secondary level of education (ISCED 2). The grouping “upper secondary and post-secondary nontertiary” includes upper secondary level of education (ISCED 3) and post-secondary non-tertiary level of education (ISCED 4). The grouping “tertiary” includes the first stage of tertiary education (ISCED 5) and advanced research qualification (ISCED 6). The data refer to persons ages 25 to 64. Source: OECD, Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators, 2006 Ed., Paris, 

September 2006, tables A1.1a and A1.3a. 

Competitiv

for ma

(charts 

Section 3 focuses on sev

competitiveness in world markmanufacturing hourly compensunit labor costs, and manufamanufacturing. The manufactsuch comparisons, and the BLhave been adjusted to a comcomparisons. Nevertheless, it allow only for a partial assessmcountries. The aggregate (all may mask important variationsub-sectors. In additionmanufacturing may not be the growing sector for trade flowsdependent on labor costs, thinfluence competitiveness, inctimeliness of its delivery, after-to respond to changes in custocompensation costs indicators whereas the productivity and u3.6 are limited to trend compari

Hourly compensation cin manufacturing (chart

These charts present data on 

for manufacturing production wdifferences in employer labor creadily available average eacountries can be very misle
earnings differ considerably, average earnings do not include all items of labor compensation, and the omitted items of compensation frequently represent a large proportion of total compensation. The compensation measures are computed in national currency units and are converted into U.S. dollars at prevailing commercial market currency exchange rates. The foreign currency exchange rates used in the calculations are the average daily exchange rates for the reference period. They are appropriate measures for comparing levels of employer labor costs. They do not indicate relative living standards of workers or the purchasing power of their income. Hourly compensation costs include (1) hourly direct pay and (2) employer social insurance expenditures and other labor taxes. Hourly direct pay includes all payments made directly to the worker, before payroll deductions of any kind, consisting of (a) pay for time worked and (b) other direct pay. Pay for time worked includes basic time and piece rates plus overtime premiums, shift differentials, other premiums and bonuses paid regularly each pay period, and cost-of-living adjustments. Other direct pay includes pay for time not worked(vacation, holidays, and other leave, except sick leave), seasonal or irregular bonuses and other special payments, selected social allowances, and the cost of payments in kind. Social insurance expenditures and other labor taxes include (c) employer expenditures for legally required insurance programs and contractual and private benefit plans and (d) other labor taxes. Social insurance expenditures include employer expenditures for retirement and disability pensions, health insurance, income guarantee insurance and sick leave, life and accident insurance, occupational injury and illness compensation, unemployment insurance, and family allowances. Other labor taxes includes taxes on payrolls or employment (or reductions to reflect subsidies), even if they do not finance programs that directly benefit workers, because such taxes are regarded as labor costs. 

The BLS definition of hourly coILO definition of total labor cosinclude all items of labor costtraining, and plant facilities amedical clinics—are not includmost countries. The labor cost4 percent of total labor costs available. Production workers generally engaged in fabricating, assehandling, warehousing, and shiand guard services; auxiliary pand other services closely relsupervisors are generally inclugenerally excluded. Total compensation is computearnings series for items of diremployer expenditures for legaprivate benefit plans, and other other countries that measure 

figures are also adjusted in o

hour worked. Earnings staemployment, hours, and earnmanufactures. Adjustment factors are obtaine

interpolated or projected to ninformation for most countritabulations of employer social the International Social Security and legislated fringe benefit bulletins, and statistical serie
A10 | Definitions, Sources, and Methods

countries, adjustment factors are obtained from surveys or censuses of manufactures or from reports on fringe-benefit systems and social 

security. For the United States, the adjustment factors are special calculations for international comparisons based on data from several surveys. The statistics are also adjusted, where necessary, to account for major differences in worker coverage; differences in industrial classification systems; and changes over time in survey coverage, sample benchmarks, and frequency of surveys. Nevertheless, some differences in industrial coverage remain, and in many countries other than the United States, the data exclude very small establishments (less than 5 employees in Japan and less than 10 employees in most other countries). For the United States, the methods used, as well as the results, differ somewhat from those of other BLS series on U.S. compensation costs. Hourly compensation costs are converted to U.S. dollars using the average daily exchange rate for the reference period. The exchange rates used are prevailing commercial market exchange rates as published by either the U.S. Federal Reserve Board or the International Monetary Fund. The hourly compensation figures in U.S. dollars shown in the tables provide comparative measures of employer labor costs; they do not provide inter-country comparisons of the purchasing power of worker incomes. Prices of goods and services vary greatly among countries, and the commercial market exchange rates used to compare employer labor costs do not reliably indicate relative differences in prices. Purchasing Power Parities (defined previously in the Gross Domestic Product section) must be used for meaningful international comparisons of the relative purchasing power of worker incomes.

Total compensation converted Parities would provide one meof labor income. It should be nincludes employer payments addition to payments made dirfunds provide either deferred retirement funds), a type of unemployment or health benef

example, family allowances), apayments and current or future 

hand, excluding these paymen

income derived from work becor self-insurance to cover retireTotal compensation, because into funds for the benefit of woeither total direct earnings or broader concept would take acworkers, including those financthose financed through employm

Source: BLS, “International ComProduction Workers in Manufactur

of Labor News Release USDL 06-2

Manufacturing product(charts 3.4-3.6) The productivity estimates refeoutput per hour worked. It produced in each country and worked. Output is defined as 

manufacturing sector of the previously (see Gross Domestipublished as part of each count
Hours worked in manufacturing include the hours of all persons engaged in the manufacturing process, including the self-employed. For some countries, the data on the number of hours worked in manufacturing are also published with the national accounts. For other countries, BLS constructs its own estimates of aggregate hours worked, multiplying employment figures published with the national accounts by estimates of average annual hours worked. Manufacturing unit labor costs are defined as the cost of labor 

compensation per unit of output. Because labor costs are frequently a major factor in total production costs, changes in unit labor costs affect 

the prices of manufactured products. Labor compensation includes employer expenditures for legally required insurance programs and contractual and private benefit plans, in addition to all payments made in cash or in kind directly toemployees. Data on labor compensation are usually taken from the countries' national accounts. When data for the self-employed are not available, total compensation is estimated by assuming the samehourly compensation for self-employed and employees. Changes in a country's unit labor costs, expressed in U.S. dollars, are estimated by combining changes in the unit labor cost expressed in each nation's currency with changes in the exchange rate of thecountry's currency against the U.S. dollar. 

Source: BLS, "International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and 

Unit Labor Cost Trends 2005, Revised," February 22, 2007, Department of Labor News Release USDL 07-0283, <http://www.bls.gov/fls/>. 

Manufacturing output a

manufacturing output (

Manufacturing output is demanufacturing sector of each coEach country's manufacturing vdollars, is divided by world madded series are converted corresponding 2005 exchange Monetary Fund (IMF). Reportexchange rates communicated 

each member country. While exchange rates are the one must keep in mind that thesuddenly and significantly, lecomparative levels shown in tcurrency is relatively "undervaoutput shown on the chart for tcurrency were to strengthen, thrise, even if its manufacturing ounchanged. 

Source: United Nations, Nation

<http://unstats.un.org/>.
A12 | Definitions, Sources, and Methods

Public expenditures on labor market 

programs as a percent of GDP 

(chart 4.1) 

 Public expenditures on labor market programs include the following programs, although not all countries have all programs: publicemployment services and administration; training; employment recruitment and maintenance incentives; integration of the disabled; direct job creation; business start-up incentives; out-of work and income maintenance and support, including unemployment compensation; and early retirement incentives. The data presented refer to 2004 for Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Data refer to 2005 for the Republic of Korea. For the United States and the United Kingdom, the data refer to fiscal year 2004, which begins on October 1st and April 1st, respectively. For the remaining countries, the data 

refer to fiscal year 2005, which begins on April 1st for Canada and 

Japan and on July 1st for Australia and New Zealand. GDP has been 

defined previously (see Gross Domestic Product section). 

Source: OECD, Social Expenditures Database, <http://www.oecd.org/>. 

   

Measures of regulation 

on labor and product markets 

(chart 4.2) 

 The measure of labor market regulation gauges the extent of regulations governing the hiring and firing of workers—often termed employment protection legislation. It is a summary measure that ranges from 0 (no restrictions) to 6 (very restrictive). The following factors are considered: the extent of procedural requirements that employers must follow in individual or collective dismissals, notice and 

severance pay requirementstemporary forms of employmenThe measure of product maaverage of indicators for seven from 0 (no restrictions) to 6 (v

electricity, postal and couri

transport, railways, and road ffollowing factors are consideremarket structure, vertical integrBoth indicators are constructesources as well as from mult

these summary measures invand weighting. For further isource documents. 

Source: OECD, Employment an

Conway, P., V. Janod and G. NicCountries, 1998 to 2003," OECD 419, 2005, <http://www.oecd.org/>

Share of la

by tax and social 

(c

This series measures the diff

average worker to their employ(net wage) that they receive

employer social security contrincluded are income taxes pasecurity contributions, employwhere in effect, payroll taxes
measure are fully comparable across countries, as they are based on common definitions agreed upon by all OECD countries. Because income taxes and access to work-related cash benefits vary by family status and in complex ways in nearly all countries, simple cross-country comparisons require a restriction to workers with a common family status. The figures presented in chart 4.3 pertain to single persons without children at the income of the average worker. The information on the average worker income level is supplied by the ministries of finance in all OECD countries and is based on national statistical surveys. The amount of taxes paid by the worker iscalculated by applying the tax laws of the country concerned. Thus, the tax rates are the result of a modeling exercise rather than direct observation of taxes actually paid. Source: OECD, Taxing Wages Database, <http://www.oecd.org/>. 

Population 

(charts 4.4 and 5.1-5.3) 

Population estimates are based on the most recent demographic data 

available for each country and reflect the de facto population as of July 1st of the year indicated. Standard demographic techniques are used 

to estimate population for the base year (2005). For most countries, national population censuses are the main source of data; however, frequency and quality vary by country. Most countries conduct a complete enumeration no more than once a decade. Pre- and postcensus estimates are interpolations or extrapolations based on demographic models. Surveys conducted by international organizations, such as the Demographic and Health Surveys Program, 

are often the source of the m

developing countries. Data for charts 4.4 and 5International comparability of differences in the concepts, defestimation methods used by organizations that collect popualways reported accurately, parThe dependency ratio (charts 

(persons under age 15 or over (persons ages 15 to 64). The of the dependence that childr

working age. Whereas depend

a population, they do not neSome children and elderly persworking-age persons are not. Data for 2025 are projected by trends in fertility, mortality, acannot be known with certaintproduced by the United Nationson the medium variant. For futhe medium variant, see the soThe world population distribushare of the total world populaincludes all residents regardlesfor refugees not permanently sgenerally considered part of thThe total population presents impact of the country on the wo
The age composition of the population (chart 5.2) refers to the 

percentage of the total population that comprises the specific age group. Three age groups are presented in chart 5.2: persons under age 15, persons ages 15 to 64 (often referred to as the working-age population), and persons over age 64. 

Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision 

Population Database, <http://esa.un.org>. 

Trade in goods as a percent of GDP 

(charts 4.5 and 5.7) 

 Trade in goods as a percent of GDP is the sum of merchandise exports and imports divided by GDP, all of which are valued in current U.S. 

dollars. The value taken by the indicator does not give the share of GDP generated by imports and exports; rather, it indicates that the value of imports and exports is equivalent to the resulting percentage of GDP. GDP has been defined previously (see Gross Domestic Product section). 

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators Database, 

<http://www.worldbank.org>. 

 

A14 | Definitions, Sources, and Methods