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This chartbook focuses on the labor market situation in selected
countries in the 1995-2005 period. Each chart in sections 1 through 4
includes countries in North America (the United States, Canada, and
Mexico) and selected Asian-Pacific and European countries. 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. Due to
the lack of suitable data, some of the countries do not appear on all
charts. It should be noted that the selected countries 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
the final section, several indicators are presented for five large
emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and the Russian
Federation. 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.
Section 1, on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, shows charts that
portray overall measures of comparative living standards. Section 2
highlights the state of the labor market by comparing major labor force,
employment, and unemployment indicators. Section 3 examines the
competitive position of the United States in the global marketplace by
comparing hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, trends in
manufacturing labor productivity and unit labor costs, and manufacturing
output as a percent of world manufacturing output. Section 4 includes
charts that compare public expenditures on labor market programs,
regulation measures on labor and product markets, taxes on labor, and
foreign trade in goods. Section 5 presents eight charts on various
topics for the large emerging economies.
The charts are color coded as follows: North American countries are
blue, Asian-Pacific countries are red, and European countries are
yellow. A different color scheme is used, however, when there is more
than one chart-bar per country, and additional colors are used for the
emerging economies charts in section 5.
The chartbook was a cooperative effort of three agencies in the
Department of Labor: the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB),
the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP), and the Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS). Since 1960, BLS has adjusted selected labor
market data of foreign countries to improve their comparability with
U.S. data. The chartbook is representative of the main output of the BLS
program of international labor comparisons. In order to increase country
and indicator coverage, BLS data are supplemented by data from the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other
international organizations.
A team led by Marie-Claire Sodergren of the BLS Division of Foreign
Labor Statistics (DFLS) in cooperation with Gregory Schoepfle, Kenneth
Swinnerton, and Rebecca Dillender of the ILAB Division of Economic and
Labor Research and Lisa Stuart of OASP prepared the chartbook.The
following persons comprised the BLS team: Apinait Amranand, Rich
Esposito, Susan Fleck, Mubarka Haq, Erin Lett, Wolodar Lysko, Gary
Martin, Jennifer Raynor, and Chris Sparks. Constance Sorrentino, Chief
of DFLS, and Ronald Bird and Stephanie Swirsky of OASP provided overall
guidance.
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