-17-

   Table 2.  All Employees:  Hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars in manufacturing,
             32 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1996-2007


   Country or Area                 1996    1998    2000    2002    2004    2005    2006    2007


   Americas
   United States.............     22.11   23.12   24.63   27.01   28.94   29.74   29.98   30.56
   Argentina.................      7.32    7.87    8.05    2.98    4.47    5.45    6.57    7.98
   Brazil....................      7.12    6.69    4.31    3.07    3.81    5.01    5.99    7.13
   Canada....................     19.01   18.08   18.68   18.78   24.20   26.73   29.27   31.91
   Mexico....................      2.32    2.37    2.89    3.44    3.34    3.57    3.72    3.91

   Asia and Oceania
   Australia.................     19.86   17.82   17.12   17.94   27.45   29.44   30.48   34.75
   Israel....................     11.34   12.21   12.77   12.34   13.56   13.88   14.25   15.92
   Japan.....................     23.93   20.83   25.34   21.75   25.59   25.56   24.32   23.95
   Korea, Republic of........      9.17    6.37    9.26    9.80   12.04   14.30   16.59   18.36
   New Zealand...............     12.57   10.43    9.31   10.12   15.17   16.64   16.08   19.19
   Philippines...............      1.27    0.92    0.90    0.90    0.97    1.06    1.21    1.37
   Singapore.................     11.88   11.49   11.65   12.04   13.15   13.22   13.77   15.43
   Taiwan....................      6.91    6.31    7.35    6.84    7.26    7.87    8.11    8.15

   Europe
   Austria...................     31.45   28.06   24.57   26.34   35.65   36.91   38.26   43.17
   Belgium...................     27.49   24.68   22.03   23.81   32.85   33.69   34.85   38.75
   Czech Republic............      3.42    3.54    3.39    4.60    6.55    7.28    8.14    9.67
   Denmark...................         -   26.04   24.07   27.33   37.53   39.20   41.18   47.54
   Finland...................     25.12   22.45   19.90   22.52   32.51   33.73   35.28   39.74
   France....................     28.18   25.27   21.67   23.07   31.50   32.22   33.60   37.68
   Germany...................         -   33.29   29.26   31.59   43.94   43.58   46.14   50.73
   Hungary...................      3.70    3.68    3.56    5.05    7.50    8.16    8.41   10.49
   Ireland...................     17.52   17.28   16.32   19.69   28.41   29.44   30.74   35.62
   Italy.....................     20.88   19.21   16.57   18.50   26.97   27.74   28.70   32.19
   Netherlands...............         -   23.79   20.97   24.15   34.09   34.79   35.50   39.47
   Norway....................         -   28.01   26.16   32.29   41.92   44.61   47.17   55.03
   Poland....................         -    3.50    3.40    4.05    4.81    5.68    6.29    7.69
   Portugal..................      5.81    5.73    5.42    6.40    8.96    9.30    9.38   10.29
   Slovakia..................         -    2.92    2.62    3.27    5.23    5.85    6.62    8.49
   Spain.....................     15.30   13.94   12.24   13.77   19.83   20.59   21.66   24.55
   Sweden....................     25.68   23.76   21.86   22.96   32.70   32.80   34.32   38.80
   Switzerland...............     32.95   28.37   24.71   28.05   35.65   35.98   36.18   38.34
   United Kingdom............     16.48   19.94   20.11   22.37   30.05   31.27   32.50   36.66

   Trade-Weighted Measures (1,2)
   All 31 Foreign Economies..         -   16.18   16.24   16.64   21.59   22.63   23.77   25.93
   OECD (3)..................         -   17.22   17.31   17.83   23.31   24.41   25.63   27.96
   Europe....................         -   24.22   21.79   24.08   33.27   33.86   35.32   39.41
   Euro Area (4).............         -   25.41   22.39   24.64   34.50   34.93   36.53   40.71
   Eastern Europe (5)........         -    3.44    3.32    4.33    5.99    6.73    7.33    9.01
   East Asia ex-Japan (6)....         -    6.99    8.47    8.61    9.85   10.95   12.04   13.12

   Dash means data not available.
   (1) For a description of trade-weighted measures and economic groups, see the Technical
       Notes preceding these tables.
   (2) The trade-weighted measures for all employees in this table are not directly comparable
       with those for production workers later in this release; the country coverage of
       the two series differs slightly.
   (3) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
   (4) Euro Area refers to European Union member countries in this release that have adopted
       the Euro as the common currency as of January 1, 2009.
   (5) Eastern Europe refers to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.
   (6) East Asia ex-Japan includes the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Singapore,
       and Taiwan.

   Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2009.