ILC Country at a Glance

The International Labor Comparisons (ILC) program adjusts data to a common conceptual framework because direct comparisons of national statistics across countries can be misleading due to differing concepts and methods. ILC data are used to assess U.S. economic and labor market performance relative to that of other countries and to evaluate the competitive position of the United States in increasingly global markets.

Data by indicator

Selected data by country

Argentina | Australia | Austria | Belgium | Brazil | Canada | China | Czech Republic | Denmark | Estonia | Finland | France | Germany | Greece | Hungary | India | Ireland | Israel | Italy | Japan | Korea, Republic of | Mexico | Netherlands | New Zealand | Norway | Philippines | Poland | Portugal | Singapore | Slovakia | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Taiwan | United Kingdom | United States

 

ILC News Releases

Latest News Releases

  • International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs in Manufacturing, 2009 (HTML) (PDF)
  • International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends, 2009 (HTML) (PDF)

ILC Databases

Database

Database Name Special
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Tutorials:
For help, try these tutorials
  Most Requested Statistics Tutorial Create Customized Tables (one screen) Tutorial Create Customized Tables (multi screen) Tutorial    
Labor force statistics, productivity and unit labor costs, consumer prices
(International Labor Comparisons - ILC)
  Top Picks One Screen Data Search Multi Screen Data Search Tables Text Files

More Tools

  • Series Report—Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
  • Text files (FTP)—Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.

ILC Tables

Labor Force, Employment, and Unemployment

NOTE: Foreign-country data are adjusted to U.S. concepts unless otherwise noted.

Monthly unemployment rates and employment indexes, 2007-2011 (updated monthly)

Annual labor force statistics, 1970-2010


Hourly Compensation Costs (Wages and Benefits)

Manufacturing sector

  • UPDATED NEWS RELEASE Through 2009 (HTML) (PDF) tables only (XLS)
  • Detailed time series tables (HTML)
  • Supporting files:
    • Technical Notes (PDF)
    • Country notes and data sources (PDF)
    • Note on 2009 data tables (PDF)

Sub-manufacturing industries

Discontinued series


Productivity and Unit Labor Costs in Manufacturing

  • NEWS RELEASE Through 2009 (HTML) (PDF)
  • Data tables, 1950-2009 (HTML) (XLS)
  • Supporting files:

      Methodology (PDF)
      Underlying data tables, 1950-2009 (XLS)


GDP per Capita and per Hour

  • Report through 2009 (HTML) (PDF)
  • Data tables 1960 - 2009 (XLS)

Consumer Prices

Monthly consumer prices

  • Consumer Price Indexes, 1995-2011 (TXT) (PDF)
  • Harmonized Indexes of Consumer Prices, 2003-2011 (TXT) (PDF)

Annual consumer prices (CPI and HICP)

  • Download entire report (HTML) (PDF)
  • Supplementary tables (XLS)

ILC Charts

Charts

Multi-topic charts

  • Charting International Labor Comparisons, 2010 Edition (HTML) (PDF 2.3MB)
  • Around the World in Eight Charts (HTML) (PDF), March 2008 Spotlight on Statistics

Topic-specific charts

  • UPDATED Labor force statistics, 1970-2010 (HTML) (PDF)
  • Manufacturing productivity and unit labor costs, 1970-2009 (HTML) (PDF)
  • Hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, 2000-2008 (HTML) (PDF)

ILC Special Studies

Manufacturing in China

UPDATED Manufacturing in China (tables, charts, and data comparability) (HTML)

Publications

  • NEW China's employment and compensation costs in manufacturing through 2008 (PDF)
  • China's manufacturing employment and compensation costs: 2002-06 (PDF)
  • Labor costs of manufacturing employees in China: an update to 2003-04 (PDF)
  • Manufacturing employment and compensation in China (revised November 2005), 1990-2002 (PDF)
    The opinions, analysis, and conclusions expressed in this report are solely those of the author.
  • Manufacturing earnings and compensation in China, 1990-2002 (PDF)
  • Manufacturing employment in China, 1990-2002 (PDF)

Manufacturing in India

  • Labor costs in India's organized manufacturing sector (PDF 1.2MB)

ILC Publications

Latest Publications

  • NEW China's employment and compensation costs in manufacturing through 2008 (PDF)
  • Compensation costs in manufacturing across industries and countries, 1975-2007 (PDF 1.4MB)
  • Labor Costs in India's Organized Manufacturing Sector (PDF 1.2MB)
  • Charting International Labor Comparisons, 2010 Edition (HTML) (PDF 2.3MB)
  • Communication on Workplace Injuries (PDF)
  • A Portrait of the Youth Labor Market in 13 Countries, 1980-2007 (PDF)
  • International Comparisons of Hours Worked: An Assessment of the Statistics (PDF)
  • Comparative Civilian Labor Force Statistics, 10 countries: A Visual Essay (PDF)
  • International Comparisons of Harmonized Indexes of Consumer Prices (PDF)

All ILC Publications »

ILC Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is productivity?
  2. What does hourly compensation costs mean?
  3. What are other major sources of international labor statistics?

All ILC FAQs »

Contact ILC

Contacts

General information:
  Tel: (202) 691-5654
  Email: Contact ILC
  Información en español: (202) 691-5029

Contacts by topic:

Hourly compensation (wages and benefits) Elizabeth Zamora (202) 691-5029
Productivity and unit labor costs Aaron Cobet (202) 691-5018
Labor force, employment, and unemployment Rich Esposito (202) 691-6071
GDP per capita and per employed person Aaron Cobet (202) 691-5018
Consumer prices Mubarka Haq (202) 691-5772
China Chris Sparks (202) 691-5034
Información en español Elizabeth Zamora (202) 691-5029

Send written inquiries to:
  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
  International Labor Comparisons
  Suite 2150
  2 Massachusetts Ave., NE
  Washington, DC 20212

Other BLS Programs

  • Import/Export Price Indexes—monthly data on changes in the prices of imported and exported nonmilitary goods traded between the U.S. and the rest of the world.
  • International Technical Cooperation—conducts training in labor statistics for international participants and coordinates international requests for BLS services including technical experts and short-term visits to BLS.

Other sources of international data