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This chartbook focuses on the labor market situation
in selected countries in the 1996-2006 period. Charts in sections 1
through 4 and section 6 include countries in North America (the
United States, Canada, and Mexico) and selected Asian-Pacific and
European economies. 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. It should be noted that the selected
economies 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 section 5, several indicators are presented for five
large emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and the
Russian Federation. Due to the lack of suitable data, some of the
countries do not appear on all charts. 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 in manufacturing 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 5 presents nine charts on various topics for
large emerging economies. In section 6, this edition presents charts on
disability indicators. This is the first of a series of one-time supplemental
sections that highlight topics of particular interest, but with occasional data
availability.
The charts are color coded as follows: North American countries are blue,
Asian-Pacific economies are red, and European countries are yellow. A different
color scheme is used, however, when there is more than one chart-bar per
country, and additional colors are used for the emerging economies charts in
section 5.
The chartbook was a cooperative effort of three agencies in the Department of
Labor: the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), the Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Since 1960, BLS has adjusted selected labor market data of foreign countries to
improve their comparability with U.S. data. The chartbook is representative of
the main output of the BLS program of international labor comparisons. In order
to increase country and indicator coverage, BLS data are supplemented by data
from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other
international organizations.
A team led by Marie-Claire Sodergren of the BLS Division of Foreign Labor
Statistics (DFLS) in cooperation with Kenneth Swinnerton and Sarah Gormly of the
ILAB Division of Economic and Labor Research prepared the chartbook. The
following persons comprised the BLS team: Apinait Amranand, Aaron Cobet, Rich
Esposito, Susan Fleck, Mubarka Haq, Wolodar Lysko, Jennifer Raynor, and Chris
Sparks. Constance Sorrentino, Chief of DFLS, and Ronald Bird and Stephanie
Swirsky of OASP provided overall guidance.
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