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Finnish industry close to the EU average
- EU labour costs higher than in USA and Japan
(01.11.1999) In the European Union average hourly labour costs in industry in 1996
ranged from 6.1 ECU in Portugal to 26.5 ECU in Germany. Both the USA (17.4) and Japan
(19.7) fell below EU-15 average of 20.2 ECU.
Labour costs accounted on average for some two-thirds of
production costs of goods and services.
The Eurostat report says labour costs in Belgium, Austria and
Sweden were close to Germany's at the top end of the range, with Finland
and Luxembourg closest to the EU average. Costs in Ireland were more in line with southern
countries - above Portugal and Greece but below Italy and Spain.
Denmark, Sweden and Finland had the most even distribution
among the various industrial sectors.
|
Hourly
labour
costs
in ECU |
of which
direct
costs
(%) |
of which
direct
remune-
ration (%) |
of which
indirect
costs
(%) |
of which
social
security
(%) |
EU-15 |
20.2 |
73.7 |
n/a |
26.3 |
23.6 |
Euro-zone |
21.6 |
71.2 |
63.4 |
28.8 |
26.1 |
Austria |
24.6 |
70.4 |
61.3 |
29.6 |
25.3 |
Belgium |
25.8 |
67.4 |
55.5 |
32.6 |
30.8 |
Denmark |
23.0 |
92.0 |
n/a |
8.1 |
0.1 |
Finland |
19.7 |
75.1 |
63.8 |
24.9 |
22.7 |
France |
22.5 |
66.9 |
57.2 |
33.1 |
29.2 |
Germany |
26.5 |
74.4 |
62.7 |
25.6 |
23.6 |
Greece |
9.6 |
76.0 |
69.9 |
24.0 |
22.9 |
Ireland |
13.8 |
83.5 |
73.2 |
16.5 |
13.6 |
Italy (1997) |
17.2 |
66.0 |
65.5 |
34.0 |
31.0 |
Luxembourg |
19.3 |
84.0 |
71.8 |
16.0 |
14.8 |
Netherlands |
22.6 |
74.9 |
64.7 |
25.1 |
22.8 |
Portugal |
6.1 |
75.3 |
69.1 |
24.8 |
20.8 |
Spain |
14.9 |
73.6 |
73.5 |
26.4 |
25.0 |
Sweden (1997) |
23.9 |
67.7 |
60.7 |
332.3 |
29.7 |
UK |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Source: Eurostat Statistics in Focus, Population and social
conditions, no 10/99: "Labour costs 1996: Major disparities between the European
Union countries"
|
SAK computer campaign
proves successful [eironline]
European working time
conference held in Helsinki [eironline]
|