IN THIS CHAPTER

1

Background

From its inception, BLS has published statistical 

information on labor conditions and labor 

developments abroad. Beginning in the early 1960s, 

BLS began to develop regularly published statistical 

series of data adjusted to common concepts to facilitate 

international comparisons. Comparative statistical analyses 

have been undertaken for two main purposes: (1) to assess 

U.S. economic and labor market performance relative 

to other economies and (2) to evaluate the competitive 

position of the United States in increasingly global markets. 

The BLS program of international comparisons is unique. 

Other national statistical agencies publish some international 

comparisons, and international organizations publish statistics collected within a common set of guidelines for a large 

number of countries. With few exceptions, however, data are 

not adjusted for comparability by these other agencies.

Description of Measures

The emphasis of the current program is on the development 

of international comparisons of 

 • The labor force, employment, unemployment, and 

 related indicators; 

 • Hourly compensation costs of employees and 

 production workers; 

 • Productivity and unit labor costs in manufacturing; 

 • Real gross domestic product per capita and per 

 employed person; and 

 • Consumer prices. 

The measures compiled relate primarily to the major developed countries, but other countries or areas of importance 

to U.S. foreign trade are included in some of the measures. 

Most of the data are annual averages; only unemployment 

Chapter 12. 

International Labor Comparisons

Background ................................................. 1

Description of Measures ............................. 1

Data Sources ............................................... 1

Estimation Procedures ................................ 1

Analysis and Presentation ........................... 6

Uses and Limitations ................................... 6

Technical References .................................. 7

rates and consumer prices are also available as monthly and 

quarterly fi gures. 

Data Sources

Research on comparative labor statistics is based upon statistical data and other source materials from (a) statistical 

agencies of foreign countries; (b) international and supranational bodies such as the United Nations, the International 

Labor Offi ce (ILO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Statistical Offi ce 

of the European Communities (EUROSTAT); and (c) private 

agencies such as banks, industry associations, and research 

institutions. All foreign-country data are drawn from secondary sources; BLS does not initiate surveys or data collection 

programs abroad. 

Estimation Procedures

Because statistical concepts and methods vary from country 

to country, international comparisons of statistical data can 

be misleading. BLS attempts to derive meaningful comparisons by (1) selecting a conceptual framework for comparative 

purposes, (2) analyzing foreign statistical series and selecting 

those which most nearly match the desired concepts, and (3) 

adjusting statistical series, where necessary and feasible, for 

greater international comparability. 
2

Labor force, employment, and unemployment

To compare unemployment across countries, BLS publishes 

monthly, quarterly, and annual unemployment rates adjusted 

to U.S. concepts for 10 countries: the United States, Canada, 

Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, 

Sweden, and the United Kingdom. BLS publishes additional 

annual labor force statistics on a civilian basis (that is, 

excluding military personnel) for the same 10 countries: 

working-age population, labor force, employment by major 

economic sector (agriculture, industry, manufacturing, and 

services), unemployment, employment-population ratios by 

sex, unemployment rates by age and sex, and women’s share 

of the labor force. (To present the differences between data 

adjusted to U.S. concepts and data from national sources, BLS 

also publishes unadjusted annual labor force, employment, 

and unemployment data series; these may or may not be on a 

civilian basis). The U.S. concepts that form the basis for the 

international comparisons are as follows:

 The civilian noninstitutional working-age population 

con sists of those persons 16 years of age and older, excluding persons who are either inmates of institutions or 

on active duty in the military.

• Employed persons are those who, during the reference 

week, (a) worked at least 1 hour as paid employees, 

worked in their own businesses or professions or on their 

own farms, or worked at least 15 hours as unpaid workers in a family-operated enterprise, or (b) did not work, 

but had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, 

childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labormanagement disputes, job training, or other family or 

personal reasons, regardless of whether they were paid 

or were seeking other jobs. 

• Unemployed persons are all persons who had no employment during the reference week, were available for 

work, except for temporary illness, and had actively 

sought work during the 4-week period ending with the 

reference week. “Active” job search methods are those 

methods which have the potential to result in a job offer without further action on the part of the jobseeker; 

for example, sending a resume to an employer would 

be considered active, whereas reading newspaper advertisements would not. Persons who were waiting to start 

a new job must have fulfi lled these criteria to be considered unemployed; however, persons who were waiting 

to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off 

need not have been looking for work. (For further information on U.S. Current Population Survey concepts and 

defi nitions, see the technical notes in Employment and 

Earnings at http://www.bls.gov/cps/eetech_methods.

pdf.)

Foreign-country data are adjusted as closely as possible to 

these U.S. defi nitions. Primary areas of adjustment address 

conceptual differences in upper age limits and defi nitions of 

employment and unemployment, provided that reliable data 

are available to make such adjustments. Where applicable, 

adjustments are made to 

• Include employed and unemployed persons above upper age limits; some European countries do not include 

persons older than age 64 in their labor force measures, 

because a large portion of this population has retired. 

• Include full-time students seeking work and available 

for work as unemployed when they are classifi ed as not 

in the labor force. 

• Exclude active-duty military personnel from employment fi gures, although a small number of career military personnel may be included in some European countries.

• Exclude unpaid family workers who worked fewer than 

15 hours per week from employment fi gures; U.S. concepts do not include them in employment, whereas most 

foreign countries include all unpaid family workers regardless of the number of hours worked. 

Where possible, lower age limits are based on the age at 

which compulsory schooling ends in each country, rather 

than on the U.S. standard of 16 years of age and older. Lower 

age limits have ranged between 13 and 16 over the years covered; currently, the lower age limits are either 15 or 16 in all 

10 countries.

Some adjustments for comparability are not made because 

data are unavailable for adjustment purposes. For example, 

no adjustments to unemployment are usually made for deviations from U.S. concepts in the treatment of persons waiting to start a new job or in the treatment of passive jobseekers. These conceptual differences have little impact on the 

measures. Furthermore, BLS studies have concluded that 

no adjustments should be made for persons on layoff who 

are counted as employed in some countries because of their 

strong job attachment, as evidenced by, for example, the payment of a salary or the existence of a recall date. In the United 

States, persons on layoff have weaker job attachment and are 

classifi ed as unemployed. 

The annual labor force measures are obtained from monthly, quarterly, or continuous household surveys and may be 

calculated as averages of monthly or quarterly data. Quarterly and monthly unemployment rates are based on household 

surveys. For some countries, they are calculated by applying annual adjustment factors to current published data and, 

therefore, are less precise indicators of unemployment under 

U.S. concepts than the annual fi gures are. 

The labor force measures may have breaks in series over 

time because of changes in surveys, sources, or estimation 

methods. Breaks are noted in data tables.

For further discussion of international comparability issues, see Constance Sorrentino, “International unemployment rates: how comparable are they?” Monthly Labor Review, June 2000, pp. 3–20. For up-to-date information on 

•
3

adjustments and breaks in series, see the Technical Notes to 

International Comparisons of Annual Labor Force Statistics, 10 Countries, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ilc/

fl scomparelf.htm, and the notes to table 1 of International 

Unemployment Rates and Employment Indexes, 2007–2009 

(Seasonally Adjusted), on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/

ilc/ intl_unemployment_rates_monthly.htm. 

Hourly compensation costs

Measures of hourly compensation costs are prepared by BLS 

to assess international differences in manufacturing employer 

labor costs. For several reasons, comparisons based on the 

more readily available average earnings statistics published 

by many countries can be misleading: national defi nitions of 

average 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. For many years, data on hourly compensation costs covered production workers only; recently, 

the series has been extended to cover all employees as well.

Hourly compensation costs consist of (1) hourly direct pay 

and (2) employer social insurance expenditures and other labor taxes. Hourly direct pay represents all payments made 

directly to the worker, before payroll deductions of any kind, 

and consists of pay for time worked and other direct pay. 

Social insurance expenditures represent the value of social 

contributions incurred by employers to secure entitlement to 

social benefi ts for their employees; these contributions often 

provide delayed, future income and benefi ts to employees. 

Included are (1) employer expenditures for legally required 

insurance programs and for contractual and private benefi t 

plans and (2) other labor taxes. Other labor taxes are taxes on 

payrolls or employment (or reductions to refl ect subsidies), 

even if they do not fi nance programs that directly benefi t 

workers. Table 1 illustrates the relationships among the subcategories of hourly compensation costs.

The BLS defi nition of hourly compensation costs is not 

the same as the International Labor Offi ce (ILO) defi nition 

of total labor costs: BLS hourly compensation costs are 

less inclusive than the total labor costs reported by the ILO. 

Expenditures on the maintenance and repair of facilities 

related to company-provided services—such as cafeterias, 

daycare centers, private medical clinics, and recreational 

facilities—are excluded from the BLS defi nition because 

they are overhead costs not directly linked to the level of 

employment or payroll. Recruitment and vocational training 

costs and reimbursements of business expenses also are not 

included in the BLS defi nition, because the concepts used, 

and thus the measurement of these items, are not consistent 

across countries. The labor costs excluded from the BLS 

defi nition account for no more than 2 percent of total labor 

costs in most countries for which data are available. 

Production workers generally include those employees 

who are engaged in fabricating, assembly, and related activities; material handling, warehousing, and shipping; maintenance and repair; janitorial and guard services; auxiliary 

production (for example, in powerplants); and other services 

closely related to the preceding activities. Working supervisors generally are included; apprentices and other trainees 

generally are excluded.

All employees comprise production workers, as well as all 

others employed full or part time in an establishment during a 

specifi ed payroll period. Temporary employees are included. 

Persons are considered employed if they receive pay for any part 

of the specifi ed pay period. The self-employed, unpaid family 

workers, and workers in private households are excluded.

Total compensation is computed by adjusting each country’s average earnings series for items of direct pay not included in earnings and for employer expenditures for legally 

required insurance, contractual and private benefi t plans, and 

other labor taxes and subsidies. For the United States and 

other countries that measure earnings on an hours-paid basis, 

Table 1. Hourly compensation 

Hourly direct pay Employer social insurance 

expenditures (both legally 

required and contractual and 

Pay for time worked Other direct pay private) and other labor taxes

• Basic wages

• Piece rate

• Overtime premiums

• Shift, holiday, or night work 

premiums

• Cost-of-living adjustments

• Bonuses and premiums paid 

each pay period

 

• Pay for time not worked (vacations, holidays,

 and other leave, except sick leave)

• Seasonal and irregular bonuses

• Allowances for family events, commuting

 expenses, etc.

• The cash value of payments in kind

• Severance pay (where not explicitly linked

 to a collective-bargaining agreement)

• Retirement and disability pensions

• Health insurance

• Income guarantee insurance and 

 sick leave

• Life and accident insurance

• Occupational injury and illness

 compensation 

• Unemployment insurance

• Severance pay (where linked to a

 collective-bargaining agreement)

• Other social insurance expenditures

• Taxes (or subsidies) on payrolls or 

 employment
4

the fi gures also are adjusted in order to approximate compensation per hour worked. 

Earnings, hours worked, and employment statistics are obtained 

from surveys or censuses of manufactures, or from administrative 

data sources. The surveys used in the BLS series typically cover 

fi rms with a minimum of 1 to 10 employees. 

For most countries, adjustment factors obtained from periodic 

labor cost surveys or censuses of manufactures are used to adjust 

average earnings to total compensation; the adjustment factors 

are interpolated or projected to nonsurvey years on the basis of 

other information. Generally, these surveys cover all employees 

in the establishment; survey data are used for both production 

worker and all-employee series. Other information used includes 

tabulations of employer Social Security contribution rates provided 

by the International Social Security Association, information on 

contractual and legislated fringe benefi t changes, and statistical 

series on indirect labor costs. For the United States, the adjustment 

factors for international comparisons are specially constructed out 

of data from several surveys. The methods used, as well as the 

results, differ somewhat from those for other BLS series on U.S. 

compensation costs.

The statistics also are adjusted, where necessary, 

to account for major differences in worker coverage, 

differences in industrial classifi cation systems, and changes 

over time in survey coverage, sample benchmarks, or the frequency of surveys. Nevertheless, some differences remain. 

Exceptions to these methods, as well as data sources, can be found in 

“Country Notes and Sources,” located at http://www.bls.gov/ilc. 

The average daily exchange rate for the reference period 

is used to convert hourly compensation costs to U.S. dollars. 

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 trade weights used to compute the average compensation cost measures for selected economic groups are 

weights based on the relative dollar value of U.S. trade in 

manufactured commodities (exports plus imports) with each 

country or area for a recent year. The trade data are compiled 

by the U.S. Census Bureau. The trade-weighted measures 

relate to all the countries or areas in the series. If data for 

the most recent year(s) are missing for a country, the average 

percent change of all the other economies in the series is used 

to compute trade-weighted estimates for the missing year(s). 

An economy is included in the trade-weight series beginning 

with the starting year of that economy’s data series. 

The trade-weighted average rates of change are computed 

as the trade-weighted arithmetic average of the rates of 

change for the individual countries or areas; the tradeweighted average hourly compensation costs are computed 

as the arithmetic average of cost levels for the individual 

countries or areas. Rates of change derived from the tradeweighted average hourly compensation cost levels need not 

be the same as the trade-weighted average rates of change.

Productivity and Unit Labor Costs

Time-series indexes of manufacturing labor productivity

(output per hour) and unit labor costs are constructed from

three basic aggregate measures: Total real output, hours 

worked, and nominal compensation. Indexes for unit labor 

costs are prepared on a national currency basis; currency 

exchange rates are used to prepare indexes for unit labor 

costs on a U.S. dollar basis. With the additional collection 

of data on annual employment in manufacturing and the 

use of consumer price indexes, 15 time-series indexes are 

constructed. 

The employment, hours, and compensation measures refer 

to employees (wage and salary workers) in Belgium and Taiwan and to all employed persons (employees plus the self-employed and unpaid family workers) in all other economies.

In general, the measures relate to total manufacturing as 

defi ned by the International Standard Industrial Classifi cation (ISIC). However, the measures for France include parts 

of mining. Data for the United States are in accordance with 

the North American Industry Classifi cation System (NAICS), 

except for compensation data before 1987, which are based 

on SIC 1987. Canadian data are in accordance with NAICS 

’97, starting with 1961 data.

The U.S. data are based on the system of national income 

and product accounts (NIPA). For other countries, the data 

for the most recent years are based on the United Nations 

System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA ’93); data for earlier years are based on previously used systems.

To obtain historical time series, BLS links some data series that were compiled by national statistical offi ces according to different accounting systems.

For most of the economies, the output measures are real 

value added in manufacturing, based on national accounts. 

However, output for Japan prior to 1970 and the Netherlands 

prior to 1960 are indexes of industrial production. The national accounts measures for the United Kingdom are essentially identical to their indexes of industrial production. 

Most economies now use moving price weights to estimate 

real output in manufacturing, as recommended by SNA ’93. 

However, fi xed price weights were used to make estimates for 

many earlier periods within the historical real output series, 

with the weights updated periodically (for example, every 5 

or 10 years). Taiwan and Korea still use fi xed price weights 

to estimate real output.

Measures of real output also may differ among economies 

because of different approaches to estimating the prices of 

products, such as computers, that undergo rapid changes in 

capabilities and characteristics.

For the United States, the output measure for the manufacturing sector is a chain-weighted index of real gross product originating (defl ated value added) produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The U.S. manufacturing output series used for international comparisons differs from the U.S. manufacturing output 

series BLS publishes as part of its major-sector productivity 

and costs measures for the United States. (See chapter 10.) 

The international comparisons program uses a value-added 

output concept, whereas the major-sector series is on a sectoral output basis. Sectoral output is gross output less intrasector sales and transfers. 
5

Value-added measures have been used for international 

comparisons series because such data are more readily available from the economies’ national accounts, whereas sectoral 

output would require a complex estimation procedure. Even 

though BLS has determined that sectoral output is the correct 

concept for the U.S. measures of productivity, other considerations, such as differences among economies in the extent 

of vertical integration of their industries, make value added 

a better concept for international comparisons of labor productivity. 

For all of the economies for the most recent years, the 

term hours refers to hours worked. For some earlier years, 

BLS uses other hours measures.

For the United States, the employment and hours data series beginning with 1987 are taken from the NAICS-based 

manufacturing all-employed series published by BLS as part 

of the major-sector productivity and cost measures. For the 

period before 1987, these series are linked to NAICS-based, 

employees-only data from the Current Employment Statistics 

(CES) program.

For most other economies, recent years’ aggregate hours 

series are obtained from national statistical offi ces, usually 

from national accounts. However, for some earlier years, 

BLS uses employment fi gures published with the national accounts, or other comprehensive employment series, together 

with data on average hours worked, to calculate the aggregate 

hours series.

The compensation measures are from national accounts. 

Compensation includes employer expenditures for legally required insurance programs and contractual and private benefi t plans, in addition to all payments made in cash or in kind 

directly to employees. When data for the self-employed are 

not available, total compensation is estimated by assuming 

the same average compensation for the self-employed as for 

employees. 

Labor cost is defi ned as compensation, plus employment 

taxes, minus employment subsidies—in other words, the cost 

to employers of using labor. For most economies, labor cost 

is the same as compensation. However, the BLS labor cost 

measure adds important taxes on payroll or employment to 

measures of compensation published by the national statistics 

offi ces of Australia, Canada, France, Singapore, and Sweden. 

For the United Kingdom, between 1967 and 1991, labor cost 

is arrived at by subtracting subsidies from compensation.

To account for the differences in the relative importance of 

each of the foreign economies to U.S. trade in manufactured 

products, BLS constructs relative trade-weighted measures 

of unit labor costs. The trade weights used are based on the 

relative dollar value of U.S. trade in manufactured commodities (exports plus imports) with each economy. The trade data 

are compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Real gross domestic product per capita and per 

employed person 

Measures of gross domestic product (GDP), population, and 

employment are obtained from national statistical sources. 

Although these data generally are comparable to one another, 

some differences remain in the countries’ statistical methodologies, which may affect comparability. 

The GDP measures used for all countries come from their 

national accounts sources. For all countries, the most recent 

series use the 1993 United Nations System of National 

Accounts (SNA 93). For earlier years, data were compiled 

according to previously used systems. 

The U.S. GDP series is based on the system of national income and product accounts (NIPA) estimated by the 

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). A major difference 

among countries pertains to the weighting scheme used to 

derive real GDP. The SNA 93 recommends annual-weighted 

real output measures. The U.S. GDP series is a chain-type 

annual-weighted measure of real GDP. Most of the other 

countries already are using, or are switching to, this same 

defl ation method, at least for the most recent years. The Republic of Korea, however, still produces its real GDP series 

by means of fi xed base-year defl ators, updating the base year 

every 5 years.

To obtain historical time series, BLS sometimes links together data series that were compiled according to different 

accounting systems by national statistical offi ces.

In each country’s national statistics, GDP is valued in 

terms of its national currency units. BLS, therefore, must 

convert those units to a common unit of value before they can 

be compared. Conversions are made to U.S. dollars through 

the use of purchasing power parities (PPPs), currency conversion rates that allow output in different currency units to 

be expressed in a common unit of value, incorporating living costs in each country. The PPPs used are taken from the 

OECD-Eurostat PPP Program, as published by the OECD in 

its publications and posted on its Web site. Data for benchmark PPP estimates are collected every 3 years. 

The report on GDP per capita and per employed person 

recently has been expanded to incorporate alternative 

measures of gross national income (GNI) per capita and 

GDP per hour worked. GNI is obtained by adjusting GDP 

for net income fl ows from abroad. For some countries, 

this adjustment has a signifi cant impact on their ranking 

in comparison with the rankings based on GDP-per-capita 

series. GDP per hour worked also results in changes in 

rankings for some countries in comparison with rankings 

based on the GDP-per-employed-person series.

Consumer prices

BLS provides two international series of data on consumer 

prices. One series has broader country coverage, but is not 

adjusted to common concepts. A second series covers fewer 

countries and is presented on a comparative basis. Both series are available as monthly and annual series.

Unadjusted series. No adjustments are made to the overall 

national consumer price indexes (CPIs) as published by each 

country, except to convert them to a uniform base year; they 

are therefore termed ”unadjusted” by BLS.

Adjusted series. The harmonized indexes of consumer 

prices (HICPs) are internationally comparable measures of 

consumer price infl ation. These indexes provide users with 
6

more meaningful international comparisons of infl ation than 

the unadjusted, national CPI data published by each country. 

The European Union’s statistical agency, Eurostat, developed 

the HICP’s methods. The EU requires member countries and 

prospective member countries to produce an HICP; however, 

most European Union countries also continue to produce 

their national CPIs for internal and historical purposes. 

The U.S. HICP is an experimental series created by the 

BLS Division of Consumer Prices. The U.S. HICP uses the 

methodology of the EU HICP. There are two major differences 

between the U.S. CPI and the U.S. HICP: the HICP excludes 

owner-occupied housing from its scope; and the HICP refers 

to the entire U.S. population, whereas the CPI refers only 

to the 87 percent of the U.S. population residing in urban 

areas. Japan also produces an index of consumer prices with 

methods comparable to those of the EU HICP; this index is 

referred to as “General, excluding imputed rent.”

Analysis and Presentation

Analyses of international labor statistics focus upon comparisons with U.S. data. For labor force statistics, foreign data are 

adjusted to U.S. concepts to facilitate comparisons. Comparative analyses have been published on a series of alternative 

unemployment indicators, youth unemployment, and shifts in 

employment by economic sector. Productivity and unit labor 

cost data are broken down to show the relative contributions 

of changes in output, employment, average hours, compensation, and exchange rates to changes in the measures. The 

infl uence of changes in exchange rates on changes in hourly 

compensation costs in manufacturing also is shown. 

The presentation of the comparisons varies with the degree of analysis and major use of the data. International comparisons of hourly compensation costs for production workers and all employees in manufacturing are presented in an 

annual news release, and supplementary tables are posted 

on the International Labor Comparisons homepage. Compensation costs in 22 manufacturing industries for a number 

of economies are updated several times each year. International comparisons of manufacturing productivity and unit 

labor cost trends are reported in news releases each year, and 

supplementary data are posted on the International Labor 

Comparisons homepage. GDP per capita and per employed 

person are updated annually. A labor force compendium is 

updated yearly, and comparisons of unemployment rates and 

consumer price indexes are published monthly. Annual reports on consumer price indexes also are updated. 

Articles on international comparisons of labor statistics are 

published periodically in the Monthly Labor Review. Some 

series are published regularly in the statistical section of the 

Review. A Chartbook of International Labor Comparisons

(http://www.bls.gov/fl s/chartbook.htm) incorporates many 

of the BLS comparative series and is published annually. The 

annual Census Bureau publication Statistical Abstract of the 

United States contains several of the principal international 

labor data series, and some series are published in the annual Economic Report of the President. Key Indicators of the 

Labor Market, published annually by the International Labor 

Offi ce, reproduces the BLS comparative hourly compensation series as a key indicator. 

Special studies of Mexico’s labor market have been conducted and published in the Monthly Labor Review, although 

Mexico is not included in the BLS series of unemployment 

rates adjusted to U.S. concepts. With the advent of NAFTA 

in the early 1990s, interest in Mexico’s labor statistics increased. BLS studies found that Mexico’s unemployment 

rate could be adjusted to approximate U.S. concepts, but that 

it was not a very relevant indicator of Mexico’s labor market. 

Mexico’s low unemployment rates mask a large number of 

persons in unstable, marginal jobs. Thus, the rates indicate 

the need for persons to subsist through any work at all, rather 

than refl ecting full employment. The BLS articles on Mexico 

emphasized other indicators beyond unemployment as better 

measures of that country’s labor market situation.

Because of the importance of China as one of the United 

States’ largest trading partners, BLS contracted for a special 

study of China’s data to determine their comparability for use 

in the international compensation comparisons produced by 

this program. The resulting Monthly Labor Review articles 

have greatly facilitated the understanding of Chinese statistics, but many problems with the availability, coverage, and 

reliability of the Chinese data remain, as described in the articles. Because of these and other limitations, BLS decided 

that China’s data would not be included in the regular series 

of compensation comparisons. BLS includes data for China 

in a special box in the compensation news releases and updates these data when feasible.

Uses and Limitations

BLS comparative series are used by policymakers, U.S. business and labor groups, researchers, private citizens, and the 

media to

• Assess the U.S. economic and labor market performance relative to that of other countries. By understanding how the United States compares with other 

advanced and emerging economies, our Nation’s 

policymakers are better prepared to take the steps 

necessary to ensure that our workforce and economy 

continue to prosper. The availability of long time series 

of comparative historical data from the International 

Labor Comparisons program makes it possible to 

uncover shifts in relative performance among world 

labor markets and address their impact. 

• Evaluate the competitive position of the United States 

in increasingly global markets. The comparisons 

and accompanying analyses inform Government and 

private offi cials about foreign economic developments 

that may affect U.S. international economic and trade 

policy. This information is especially important, given 

the U.S. participation in NAFTA and with other free 

trade agreements currently being debated by the Congress. 
General

International Labor Offi ce. Current International Recommendations and Guidelines on Labor Statistics, 2004 

Edition. Geneva, 2004.

Presents recommendations on standardizing labor statistics, including recommendations on employment and 

unemployment statistics, statistics of labor costs, wage 

statistics, consumer price indexes, and strikes and lockouts. 

The ILO recommendations and guidelines are available 

online at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/ 

7

Foreign labor standards, as measured by comparative labor 

statistics, are important elements in trade agreement 

negotiations. Hourly compensation costs, unit labor 

costs, and productivity are used as key indicators in 

the evaluation of the competitive position of the United 

States in increasingly global markets. 

Although considerable progress has occurred in making 

international economic statistics more uniform among countries (for example, through the work of international agencies 

such as the United Nations, the International Labor Offi ce, 

the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Statistical Offi ce of the European Communities), international statistical comparisons should be used 

cautiously. Nevertheless, through careful analysis of each 

country’s data, together with an understanding of the limitations, valid statistical comparisons can be made. Limitations 

of the BLS comparative series are described in the technical 

sections of the various releases.

Technical References

res/ index.htm.

Capdevielle, Patricia, and Sherwood, Mark K. “Providing 

Comparable International Labor Statistics,” Monthly Labor 

Review, June 2002; on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/

opub/mlr/2002/06/art1full.pdf. 

Provides an overview of the history, rationale, and statistics 

produced by BLS to aid in international comparisons of labor 

statistics. 

Labor force, employment, and unemployment

Chernyshev, Igor. “ILO-Comparable Employment and 

Unemployment Estimates: A Technical Guide.” Geneva, 

International Labor Offi ce, STAT Working Paper No. 91-3; 

Lawrence, Sophia. “ILO-Comparable Annual Employment 

and Unemployment Estimates,” ILO Bulletin of Labor 

Statistics, 2002–4, pp. IX–XXIV. The 

Technical Guide presents detailed descriptions of 

employment and unemployment data and adjustments made 

to ILO defi nitions for 26 countries in Eastern and Western 

Europe, the Far East, and Oceania (Australia and New 

Zealand). The article in the ILO Bulletin is the latest in a 

periodic series that summarizes the ILO program and presents 

annual average data. 

Fleck, Susan, and Sorrentino, Constance. “Employment and 

Unemployment in Mexico’s Labor Force,” Monthly Labor 

Review, November 1994; on the Internet at http://www.

bls.gov/opub/mlr/1994/11/art1full.pdf; and Martin, Gary. 

“Employment and Unemployment in Mexico in the 1990s,” 

Monthly Labor Review, November 2000; on the Internet at 

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/11/art1full.pdf. 

These two articles describe the pitfalls in using Mexico’s 

unemployment statistics for comparisons with the United 

States and with other countries lacking Mexico’s large 

informal sector.

International Labor Offi ce. Sources and Methods: Labor 

Statistics. Vol. 3, 3rd edition: Economically Active 

Population, Employment, Unemployment and Hours of 

Work. Geneva, 2002.

Presents methodological descriptions of labor statistics

derived from labor force and household surveys that are 

disseminated by the ILO’s Bureau of Statistics.

International Labor Offi ce. Key Indicators of the Labor 

Market. Geneva. Biannual publication; on the Internet at 

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/strat/

kilm/index.htm. 

Presents data on, and an analysis of, 20 labor market 

indicators, with some adjustments for comparability across 

countries.

Moy, Joyanna, and Sorrentino, Constance. “U.S. Labor 

Market Performance in International Perspective.” Monthly 

Labor Review, June 2002; on the Internet at http://www.

bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/06/art2full.pdf. 

Presents an analysis of U.S. and international labor force 

performance, using the BLS comparable labor force data 

series. 

OECD Employment Outlook. Paris, Organization for Eco-
nomic Cooperation and Development. Annual publication.

Provides analysis of policy issues regarding labor markets

and presents labor market statistics for OECD member 

countries, with some adjustments for comparability. 

Sorrentino, Constance. “International unemployment rates: 

how comparable are they?” Monthly Labor Review, 

June 2000; on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/

mlr/2000/06/art1full.pdf. 

Gives a detailed explanation of the adjustments made by 

BLS to produce international comparisons of unemployment 

rates for 10 countries.

Sorrentino, Constance. “International unemployment indicators,” Monthly Labor Review, August 1995; on the 

Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1995/08/art4full.

pdf. 

Presents international comparisons of seven unemployment 

indicators for 10 countries. Indicators range from four 

indicators narrower than the U-5 conventional rate to two 

indicators that take into account both persons working part 

time for economic reasons and discouraged workers.

Elder, Sara, and Sorrentino, Constance. “Japan’s low 

unemployment: a BLS update and revision,” Monthly Labor 

Review, October 1993; on the Internet at http://www.bls.

gov/fl s/mpres93.pdf. 

Presents comparisons of U.S. and Japanese unemployment 

rates, including rates for both persons working part time for 

economic reasons and discouraged workers.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Youth 

Unemployment: An International Perspective, Bulletin 

2098, September 1981; Sorrentino, Constance. “Youth 

unemployment: an international perspective,” Monthly 

Labor Review, July 1981. 

Examines the labor market experience of youths in the 

United States and eight other industrial countries from the 

early 1960s to the late 1970s.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

International Comparisons of Unemployment, Bulletin 

1979, August 1978.

Provides the conceptual framework for, and a comprehensive 

description of, BLS work on international unemployment 

comparisons; describes in detail the methods of adjusting 

foreign unemployment rates to U.S. concepts; and analyzes 

various factors contributing to differences in unemployment 

levels.

Hourly compensation costs

European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment 

and Social Affairs. Employment in Europe 2003: Recent 

Trends and Prospects, Chapter 3, “Wage structures and 

determinants in an enlarged Europe”; on the Internet at 

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/employment_

analysis/employ_2003_en.htm. 

Discusses wage formation and wage differentials in Europe 

across countries, industries, fi rms, regions, and occupations. 

Also discusses the link between wages and productivity.

Gittleman, M., and Wolff, E. N. “International Comparisons 

of Inter-Industry Wage Differentials,” Review of Income 

and Wealth, vol. 39, no. 3, September 1993, pp. 295–312; 

on the Internet at http://www.roiw.org/1993/295.pdf.

Discusses relative wages across industries for 14 OECD

countries over the 1970–1985 period.

Hart, Robert A. The Economics of Non-Wage Labor Costs. 

London, George Allen & Unwin, 1984. 

Discusses components and structure of labor costs and 

consequences for the cyclical behavior of labor markets.

International Labor Offi ce. An Integrated System of Wages

 Statistics: A Manual on Methods. Geneva, International

 Labor Offi ce, 1979. 

Discusses the principal uses of wage statistics, concepts, and

 defi nitions, and outlines the integrated system recommended at 

the Twelfth International Conference of Labor Statisticians.

Krueger, A. B., and Summers, L. H. Refl ections on the InterIndustry Wage Structure, National Bureau of Economic 

Research Worker Paper Series, no. 1968, June 1986; on the 

Internet at http://www.nber.org/papers/W1968.pdf. 

Discusses wage differentials across industries and types of 

workers for the United States and several other countries.

Sparks, Chris, Bikoi, Theo, and Moglia, Lisa. “A perspective

on U.S. and foreign compensation costs in manufacturing,” 

Monthly Labor Review, June 2002; on the Internet at http://

www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/06/art3full.pdf. 

Examines hourly compensation costs and the component 

parts of compensation in 2000, as well as historical trends 

over the past 25 years for the United States and several 

foreign economies.

Productivity and unit labor costs

Cobet, Aaron, and Wilson, Gregory. “Comparing 50 Years 

of labor productivity in U.S. and foreign manufacturing,” 

Monthly Labor Review, June 2002; on the Internet at http://

www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/06/art4full.pdf. 

Shows a lesser increase in the United States than in other 

G-7 countries over 50 years, but accelerated U.S. growth 

since 1973 and slowdowns in other countries.

Dean, Edwin, and Sherwood, Mark K. “Manufacturing costs, 

productivity, and competitiveness, 1979–93,” Monthly 

Labor Review, October 1994; on the Internet at http://www.

bls.gov/opub/mlr/1994/10/art1full.pdf. 

Examines the relationship between output price, input costs, 

and productivity. 

Dean, Edwin, Darrough, Masako, and Neef, Arthur. 

“Alternative Measures of Capital Inputs for Computation 

of Multifactor Productivity Growth in Japanese Manufacturing.” in Charles R. Hulten, ed., Productivity Growth in 

Japan and the United States. National Bureau of Economic 

Research, 1990. 

8
Examines and assesses the various data sources and 

methods available for measuring capital stock in Japanese 

manufacturing.

Eldridge, Lucy, and Sherwood, Mark K. “A Perspective 

on the U.S.-Canada Manufacturing Productivity Gap,” 

Monthly Labor Review, February 2001; on the Internet at 

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2001/02/art2full.pdf. 

Greater measured productivity growth in the United States 

than in Canada in the 1990s resulted mainly from greater 

growth in information-technology-related manufactured 

products and is apparently not greatly affected by national 

differences in statistical methodology.

Shelton, William C., and Chandler, John H. “Technical Note—

International comparisons of unit labor cost: concepts and 

methods,” Monthly Labor Review, May 1963. 

Contains a discussion of technical diffi culties, including 

exchange rate adjustments, that analysts must confront when 

making international comparisons of unit labor costs.

Lum, Sherlene K.S., Moyer, Brian C., and Yuskavage, Robert 

E. “Improved Estimates of Gross Product by Industry for 

1947–98,” Survey of Current Business, June 2000. 

Explains latest methodology for price defl ation by 

industry.

Lysko, Wolodar. “Manufacturing multifactor productivity in 

three countries,” Monthly Labor Review, July 1995; on the 

Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1995/07/art4full.

pdf. 

A comparative analysis of multifactor productivity trends in 

the United States, France, and Germany. 

Maddison, Angus. “Growth and Slowdown in Advanced 

Capitalist Economies: Techniques of Quantitative 

Assessment,” Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 25, June 

1987. 

Examines economic growth and labor productivity 

developments since 1870 in the United States, Japan, and 

four European countries, and factors that help to explain 

variations in growth rates. 

van Ark, Bart, and McGuckin, Robert. “International labor 

productivity and per capita income,” Monthly Labor 

Review, July 1999; on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/

opub/mlr/1999/07/art3full.pdf. 

Examines the relationship between these measures and fi nds 

great differences across countries and regions.

van Ark, Bart. “Manufacturing prices, productivity, and labor 

costs in fi ve economies,” Monthly Labor Review, July 1995; 

on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1995/07/

art5full.pdf. 

A comparative analysis of manufacturing productivity and 

unit labor cost levels in the United States, France, Germany, 

Japan, and the United Kingdom. 

Yuskavage, Robert E., and Mahnaz, Fahim-Nadir. “Gross 

Domestic Product by Industry for 1947–86. New Estimates 

Based on the North American Industry Classifi cation 

System,” Survey of Current Business, December 2005. 

Provides the fi rst long-term view of industry contributions 

to U.S. economic growth and infl ation from a NAICS 

perspective.

Real gross domestic product per capita and per 

employed person

Hill, T.P. The Measurement of Real Product. Paris, 

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 

February 1971. 

A theoretical and empirical analysis of the growth rates for 

different industries and countries.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 

and Eurostat. Purchasing Power Parities and Real 

Expenditures: 2002 Benchmark Year. 2004 edition. Paris, 

OECD. 

Methods and results of the 2002 benchmark comparisons 

for the OECD countries. 

Summers, Robert, and Heston, Alan. “The Penn World Table 

(Mark 5): An Expanded Set of International Comparisons, 

1950–1988,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1991. 

Extrapolations and estimates of purchasing power parities,

comparative prices, and quantity comparisons of gross 

domestic product per capita for more than 100 countries. 

Benchmarked to the results of the United Nations 

International Comparison Program Project. 

Consumer prices

Sincavage, Jessica. “International Comparisons of 

Harmonized Indexes of Consumer Prices,” Monthly Labor 

Review, February 2007; on the Internet at http://www.bls.

gov/opub/mlr/2007/02/ressum.pdf. 

Explains the new indexes with uniform standards introduced 

by the European Union and more recently produced by the 

United States. Comparative data for Japan also are included. 

Lane, Walter, and Schmidt, Mary Lynn. “Comparing U.S. 

and European infl ation: the CPI and the HICP,” Monthly 

Labor Review, May 2006; on the Internet at http://www.

bls.gov/opub/mlr/2006/05/art3full.pdf. 

Introduces an experimental consumer price index for the 

United States that follows, to the extent possible, the methods 

of the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), the 

European Union’s offi cial price index.

9