Workers of the world united

At the beginning of this year we introduced eight new countries to our list of international plant cost indices (see January 2000, p18). Following on from that, this month we now highlight the labour compensation, or wage element, of the composite indices for these countries.

Data to hand at the moment covers the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Mexico and Turkey for the year 1999. Data for Greece, Ireland and Norway is not yet available but will be published as soon as possible.

The graphs show that labour compensation/wages for the Czech Republic have risen from January to November 1999 by 1.2 per cent. Registered unemployment shows a rise of 1.7 per cent, now running at 9.1 per cent.

Similarly, Finland has had a rise of 1.8 per cent for labour compensation, with unemployment rising 0.7 per cent to 10 per cent. Another European country listed, Hungary, has recorded a 7.6 per cent rise in wages, with unemployment falling 0.2 per cent, down to 9.6 per cent.

Wage rises across the Atlantic in Mexico are somewhat higher at 8.4 per cent, with registered unemployment falling by 0.4 per cent to 2.3 per cent.

Back in Europe - and shown separately for obvious reasons - Turkey's labour compensation factor is a huge 52 per cent over the same period, although registered unemployment has been reasonably static at 7.3 per cent.