The labour costs are the sum of all wages, which are paid in a certain period by employers at employees.

With the collection of labour costs the calculation method is important, because from this different results can result. Usually the absolute labour costs per hour are computed. They can be computed also for each head. Of wage costses one, if the labour costs are not referred to working hours or number of employees, speaks but on the number of manufactured products. Ancillary wages represent a part of the labour costs.

In Germany, as also in other industrial nations, labour costs are made frequently than reason for the bad situation on the job market, in particular high unemployment, responsible. They are in the international comparison too high and made the location unattractive Germany. Like that the labour costs of Eastern European as well as Southeast Asiatic states for these, smaller around a multiple, are a strong competition advantage (which did not exclude however heavy financial crises straight in these countries). In particular, if the productivity in these states behaves not proportionally to the labour costs, but it exhibits, can relatively good results to drifts of enterprises from the industrial nations come. Remarkable it is however that the mass of the investments, in particular also the direct investments, within which advanced industrialized countries takes place and only in smaller measure developing countries benefits. The International Monetary Fund comes even to the result that capital flows "“into the wrong direction"”, thus from "“south"” to "“north"”. From the labour costs one would have had to expect the opposite direction.

International comparison

In the illustration the pay (economical Gesamtrechnung) is represented for each to employees (for the labour costs) and (nominal) the gross domestic product for each employee (for the productivity). The average values of the years 2000 to 2004 were computed. Because of the comparability the values were converted into euro and standardized to FRG values = 100. In the Eastern European countries the productivity lies strongly underneath that Germany, but are appropriate the work-repaid for each head still more strongly below for the FRG value, so that in the result - based alone on the labour costs - which are more competitive Eastern European countries. It is noticeable that the two main competitors from the triad are less competitive the USA and Japan after this result, since they exhibit a higher productivity, but still higher labour costs.

With about 27 euro per hour Germany with Denmark has the highest labour costs in the world. The lowest are paid in China with about 1.10 euro.

== see also == personnel expenditure, wage costses, ancillary wages

Related links

• DIW weekly report No. 14/2004: '' Labour costs in the international comparison '' (pdf file)

• On the inclined course - the German wage policy intensifies"… ''

• Analysis of the IWFs to the investment and savings behavior (in English)

• Ameco data base of the agencies of the European Union commission

Articles in category "Labour costs"

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Related Websites

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• Unit Labour Costs
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