August 29, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Comparing countries

BLS provides a wide range of foreign labor statistics, often adjusted to U.S. concepts for comparability, to users interested in making international comparisons.

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BLS publishes statistics adjusted for comparability on labor forces, employment and unemployment; productivity and unit labor cost trends in manufacturing; and hourly compensation costs for production workers in all manufacturing and in component manufacturing industries.

In addition, statistics are provided on gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and per employed person and on consumer price indexes (CPIs), although these latter two series are not adjusted for comparability.

The measures produced relate primarily, but not entirely, to the major developed countries which are the most similar to the United States.

International comparisons of labor statistics are from the Foreign Labor Statistics program. Note that, in each case in the chart above, the U.S. is one of the countries included in number of countries covered. Find out more in "Providing comparable international labor statistics," by Patricia Capdevielle and Mark K. Sherwood, Monthly Labor Review, June 2002.