Unit Labour Costs in Goods Production Declined in 2011

In 2010 and 2011, the recovery following the economic crisis led to shrinking unit labour costs for goods production in Austria. After a crisis-driven contraction, productivity rose by 8.5 percent in 2010 and by 7.2 percent in 2011, while per-capita compensation grew by just 1.9 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. Consequently, the explosive rise of unit labour costs that occurred in 2008 (+5.4 percent) and 2009 (+11.5 percent) was almost compensated: unit labour costs declined by 4 percent in 2011, following a reduction by 6.1 percent in 2010.