February 12, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Manufacturing compensation costs in U.S. and abroad, 2006

In the United States, hourly compensation costs for all employees in manufacturing were $29.60 in 2006, 24 percent higher than the level of production worker compensation costs, $23.82.

[Chart data—TXT]

Hourly compensation costs for all employees are higher than those for production workers in each economy covered by the two series, generally ranging from 10 percent to 25 percent higher than production worker hourly compensation costs.

Only 7 of the 28 foreign economies covered by both the production worker and all employee hourly compensation costs series had a larger difference between the compensation levels of the two groups than the United States.

These data are from the Foreign Labor Statistics program. To learn more, see "International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs in Manufacturing, 2006", news release USDL 08-0093. Production workers generally include those employees who are engaged in fabricating, assembly, and related activities. All employees include production workers as well as all others employed full or part time in an establishment.