U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Foreign Labor Statistics

Chartbook of International Labor Comparisons, The AMERICAS, ASIA/PACIFIC, EUROPE -- January 2008 http://www.dol.gov/asp/media/reports/chartbook/2008-01/chartbook.pdf [full-text, 73 pages]

{excerpt] This chartbook focuses on the labor market situation in selected countries in the 1996-2006 period. Charts in sections 1 through 4 and section 6 include countries in North America (the United States, Canada, and Mexico) and selected Asian-Pacific and European economies. Weighted aggregates for 15 European Union countries (EU-15) are shown on most charts. These represent European Union member countries prior to the expansion of the European Union to 25 countries on May 1, 2004 and to 27 countries on January 1, 2007. The EU-15 countries are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It should be noted that the selected economies are not representative of all of Europe and the Asian-Pacific region; rather, they tend to be the more industrialized economies in these regions. In section 5, several indicators are presented for five large emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation. Due to the lack of suitable data, some of the countries do not appear on all charts. The appendix describes the definitions, sources, and methods used to compile the data in the chartbook. For some series, the appendix provides cautions about the exact comparability of the measures.

CONTENTS iv | Contents Section 1. Gross Domestic Product Per Capita 1 1.1 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, 2006 2 1.2 Average annual growth rates for real GDP per capita, 1996- 2006 3 Section 2. Labor Market Indicators 5 2.1 Size of the labor force, 2006 6 2.2 Average annual growth rates for the labor force, 1996-2006 7 2.3 Labor force participation rates by sex, 2006 8 2.4 Labor force participation rates for youth, 2006 9 2.5 Labor force participation rates for older workers, 2006 10 2.6 Employment as a percent of the working-age population, 2006 11 2.7 Average annual growth rates for employment, 1996-2006 12 2.8 Average annual growth rates for full-time and part-time employment, 1996-2006 13 2.9 Annual hours worked per employed person, 1996 and 2006 14 2.10 Unemployment rates, 2006 15 2.11 Unemployment rates for youth, 2006 16 2.12 Ratio of youth to adult unemployment rates, 2006 17 2.13 Persons unemployed one year or longer, 2006 18 2.14 Ratio of unemployment rate of persons without high school degrees to that of persons with college or university degrees, 2005 19 2.15 Educational attainment of the adult population, 2005 20 Section 3. Competitiveness Indicators for Manufacturing 21 3.1 Hourly compensation costs, 2005 22 3.2 Average annual growth rates for hourly compensation costs, 1995-2005 23 3.3 Employer social insurance expenditures and other labor taxes as a percent of hourly compensation costs, 2005 24 3.4 Average annual growth rates for manufacturing productivity, 1996-2006 25 3.5 Average annual growth rates for manufacturing output and hours worked, 1996-2006 26 3.6 Average annual growth rates for manufacturing unit labor costs in U.S. dollars, 1996-2006 27 3.7 Manufacturing output as a percent of world manufacturing output, 2006 28 Section 4. Other Economic Indicators 29 4.1 Public expenditures on labor market programs as a percent of GDP, 2005-06 30 4.2 Measures of regulation on labor and product markets, 2003 31 4.3 Share of labor costs taken by tax and social security contributions, 2006 32 4.4 Dependency ratios, 2005 and projections to 2025 33 4.5 Trade in goods as a percent of GDP, 2005 34 Section 5. Indicators for Large Emerging Economies 35 5.1 World population distribution, 2005 36 5.2 Age composition of the population, 2005 37 5.3 Dependency ratios, 2005 and projections to 2025 38 5.4 GDP per capita, 2005 39 5.5 GDP per employed person, 1996 and 2005 40 5.6 Labor force participation rates by age, 2006 41 5.7 Employment as a percent of the working-age population by sex, 2006 42 5.8 Trade in goods as a percent of GDP, 2005 43 5.9 Manufacturing output as a percent of world manufacturing output, 2006 44 Section 6. Disability indicators 45 6.1 Persons with disabilities as a percent of the working-age population 46 6.2 Employment as a percent of the working-age population 47 6.3 Persons receiving disability benefits as a percent of the working-age population, 1990 and 1999 48 6.4 Labor market status of persons receiving disability benefits 49 Appendix. Definitions, Sources, and Methods A1 ______________________________ This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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