Economic News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, October 13, 2011             USDL-11-1469

Technical Information:     (202) 691-5654    ilchelp@bls.gov     www.bls.gov/ilc
Media Contact:             (202) 691-5902    PressOffice@bls.gov

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY
 AND UNIT LABOR COST TRENDS, 2010

Note: This release was reissued on December 1, 2011 to correct data for Germany 
within tables 2 and 3, and chart 4.  The text was not affected by the corrections.

Productivity growth in manufacturing increased in 2010 in all countries covered,
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In the majority of countries
labor productivity (output per hour) rose by more than 5 percent (see chart 1).
In the previous year, productivity fell in 12 of 19 countries. The productivity
increases in 2010 were driven by large gains in output coupled with modest changes
in hours (see chart 2). Output, after having fallen in all countries in 2009, rose
in all countries in 2010.   

The data presented for the United States differ from those in the BLS Productivity
and Costs news release. (See technical notes.)  

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Chart 1. Percent changes in manufacturing output per hour, 2009-2010

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Chart 2. Percent changes in manufacturing output and hours, 2009-2010

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The 2010 growth in manufacturing labor productivity represents a reversal of the
previous year, where productivity fell in 12 of the 19 countries. In 2010,
productivity increased in all countries covered, and six countries experienced
productivity growth over 10 percent (see chart 3).  

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Chart 3. Percent changes in manufacturing output per hour

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Analyze trends with interactive dashboard.
The Excel version of the data tables includes an interactive dashboard that
displays charts from a custom selection of variables, countries, and time periods
at www.bls.gov/ilc/#productivity.

Find additional data. 
The data tables with annual indexes and growth rates back to 1950 used to prepare
this report are available at www.bls.gov/ilc/#productivity. 

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- 3 -

Unit labor costs are the cost of labor input required to produce one unit of
output and can be expressed either in national currency units or in U.S. dollars.
Expressed in national currency units, manufacturing unit labor costs declined in
2010 in all countries covered; Singapore, Sweden, and Japan recorded the largest
drops (see chart 4). Unit labor costs in U.S. dollars showed even steeper declines
than the national currency valuations for most European countries, due to the
relative strength of the U.S. dollar. In 2010 unit labor costs in U.S. dollars
increased in four countries.

In 2010, U.S. manufacturing labor cost competitiveness declined relative to 13
countries because unit labor costs on a U.S. dollar basis decreased more in those
countries than in the United States. However, U.S. labor cost competitiveness
improved relative to the other 5 countries. The United States improved its
competiveness the most against Australia due to the large appreciation of the
Australian dollar against the U.S. dollar, which pushed Australian unit labor costs
up more than 10 percent on a U.S. dollar basis.

PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT:
Chart 4. Percent changes in manufacturing unit labor costs, 2009-2010