From:
OECD Factbook 2014
Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics
Access the complete publication at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/factbook-2014-en
Labour compensation
Please cite this chapter as:
OECD (2014), “Labour compensation”, in OECD Factbook 2014:
Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics, OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/factbook-2014-17-en
This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The
opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries.
This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or
sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to
the name of any territory, city or area.
OECD FACTBOOK 2014 © OECD 2014
48
PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY • PRODUCTIVITY
LABOUR COMPENSATION
Average labour compensation per hour worked provides one of the building blocks for cross-country comparisons of unit labour costs and has become particularly relevant in the context of rising imbalances within the Euro area.
Competitiveness within a monetary union can be eroded when wages grow faster than productivity.
Definition
Labour compensation per hour worked is defined here as total compensation of employed persons divided by total hours worked. Compensation of employed persons is the sum of gross wages and salaries and of employers’ social security contributions. Data refer to the total economy and are for those countries for which time series of hours worked are available in the OECD Annual National Accounts Database.
Comparability
The primary data source for constructing the indicator of total compensation per hour worked is the OECD Annual National Accounts, where data are compiled on a similar basis across countries. This assures a fairly good degree of comparability across countries despite differences in the ways in which countries may implement international guidelines in this field.
In order to derive the measure of total compensation of all employed persons, and not only of employees, an adjustment is made for self-employment. This assumes that labour compensation per hour worked is equivalent for the self-employed and employees. The validity of this assumption will vary across different countries, economic activities, and over time, potentially affecting the comparability of the estimates.
The preferred measure of labour input is actual hours worked. These reflect regular hours worked by full-time and part-time workers, paid and unpaid overtime, hours worked in additional jobs, and time not worked because of public holidays, annual paid leave, strikes and labour disputes, bad weather, economic conditions and other reasons. In most countries, the primary source for measuring actual hours worked are labour force surveys, but several countries rely, only or in addition, on establishment surveys and administrative sources. While these different sources may affect the comparability of levels, comparisons of changes over time are likely to be less affected.
Overview
Between 2001 and 2012, and for those countries for which data are available, average labour compensation per hour increased by 3.6% per annum in OECD countries and by 3% in Euro area countries.
Comparing annual labour compensation across countries and over time can provide some insight into movements in trade balances across countries, particularly within common currency zones. As a simple rule of thumb, bilateral trade balances within the Euro area would, other things being equal, be broadly stable if annual hourly compensation in each country increased in line with average labour productivity.
On average between 2001-07 Greece and Spain exhibited wage growth which was significantly higher t h a n l ab o u r p ro d u c t iv i t y g row t h c a u s i n g a deterioration in competitiveness with Austria, Finland and Germany, where wages rose only moderately.
Since 2007, the annual data for labour compensation per hour worked point to some rebalancing within the Euro area. Between 2007 and 2012, the average annual increase in labour compensation per hour worked was lower than productivity growth in Greece, Portugal and Spain and higher in Austria, Belgium and Finland and Germany.
Sources
• OECD (2013), Main Economic Indicators.
• OECD (2013), OECD National Accounts Database.
Further information
Analytical publications• OECD (2013), 2013 OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators, OECD Publishing.
• OECD (2013), National Accounts at a Glance, OECD Publishing.
Methodological publications
• OECD (2013), 2013 OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators, OECD Publishing.
Websites
• Main Economic Indicators, www.oecd.org/std/mei.
• OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators, www.oecd.org/std/productivity-stats/oecd-compendium-of- productivity-indicators.htm.
• Productivity statistics, www.oecd.org/statistics/productivity.
PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY • PRODUCTIVITY
OECD FACTBOOK 2014 © OECD 2014
49
LABOUR COMPENSATION
Labour compensation per hour worked: total economy
Annual growth in percentage
1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933027475
Labour compensation per hour worked: total economy
Average annual growth in percentage, 2001-12 or latest available period
1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933024910
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Australia 4.3 5.3 3.8 4.5 4.3 3.8 5.4 5.5 3.2 3.1 5.9 4.4 ..
Austria 2.5 1.7 2.2 2.1 0.9 2.9 4.4 2.9 3.8 4.6 1.7 1.7 3.6
Belgium 1.2 4.0 4.4 1.9 1.5 2.1 3.5 3.2 3.8 2.7 1.2 2.7 3.8
Canada 5.4 3.2 2.4 3.1 2.9 4.8 5.0 3.5 2.7 3.2 2.0 .. ..
Chile .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Czech Republic 7.9 13.8 8.2 8.8 7.0 3.4 7.0 6.5 4.0 0.3 1.0 2.0 2.8
Denmark 3.1 3.8 4.5 4.0 3.2 3.7 2.9 5.1 3.5 3.1 4.8 0.4 1.5
Estonia .. 9.6 9.1 10.9 11.3 9.7 14.7 24.9 11.3 4.0 -0.2 -1.7 7.8
Finland 4.3 5.1 2.0 2.9 3.4 4.1 3.1 3.7 5.3 3.0 1.5 3.2 3.3
France 5.2 3.2 6.0 3.0 1.4 3.4 4.8 1.6 2.0 3.2 1.9 2.3 2.3
Germany 3.2 2.8 1.9 1.8 0.5 0.3 1.2 0.7 2.1 3.6 0.3 2.7 3.3
Greece 5.5 3.4 11.8 6.8 4.9 4.9 3.2 5.4 2.8 6.3 -2.9 -4.9 -3.9
Hungary 15.5 17.6 12.9 11.8 9.8 6.7 5.7 5.8 7.0 -0.9 -0.3 2.5 5.8
Iceland .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Ireland .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Israel 5.5 4.4 0.0 -1.0 1.9 2.6 6.9 0.3 2.2 0.9 3.5 3.4 ..
Italy 2.2 3.9 2.8 2.9 2.8 3.5 2.1 2.3 3.2 2.0 2.3 1.0 1.2
Japan -0.4 0.5 -1.4 -2.3 -1.9 0.0 -1.5 -0.8 1.4 -1.1 -1.0 0.7 ..
Korea .. .. .. .. .. 6.9 4.3 6.6 7.0 2.2 5.4 9.4 -1.4
Luxembourg .. .. .. 2.7 3.4 5.6 2.7 3.2 3.0 6.0 2.4 2.5 2.4
Mexico 19.7 12.1 3.0 9.7 3.8 1.9 5.5 5.6 4.4 8.2 .. .. ..
Netherlands 5.1 5.3 5.3 3.8 3.7 1.7 2.5 3.2 2.7 2.8 1.5 1.4 1.8
New Zealand .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Norway 6.1 7.6 5.4 5.1 2.8 4.3 5.6 5.7 5.9 4.9 2.6 4.5 4.2
Poland 10.9 10.1 2.9 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.9 4.9 9.3 4.3 4.7 5.2 8.0
Portugal 5.8 4.7 3.7 3.8 2.3 4.7 2.2 3.3 3.6 2.5 1.8 -0.3 -3.3
Slovak Republic 13.4 6.6 12.1 11.5 5.5 7.0 7.9 8.2 6.8 3.6 3.1 2.7 3.3
Slovenia .. 13.2 5.7 6.9 5.9 8.5 6.8 6.9 6.6 8.6 2.2 3.2 0.5
Spain 2.8 3.2 3.3 3.5 3.0 3.9 4.1 5.6 6.5 3.8 0.2 0.7 0.4
Sweden 8.6 5.8 4.5 4.3 2.4 3.4 2.2 4.4 0.9 2.1 1.3 1.1 4.0
Switzerland .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Turkey .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
United Kingdom 6.4 5.3 3.7 5.4 5.1 2.4 5.6 4.5 2.9 2.6 3.0 1.8 0.7
United States .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
EU 28 6.4 4.0 3.6 1.4 2.4 2.7 3.1 3.1 0.7 0.1 2.8 1.9 4.2
OECD .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Brazil .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
China .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
India .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Indonesia .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Russian Federation .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
South Africa .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10
