The Crisis Impacted Austria's International Unit Labour Cost Position in 2009

The economic crisis has affected the unit labour cost position of the Austrian manufacturing sector. Per-capita labour productivity declined by 10.1 percent in Austria, while EU trading partners saw a drop in productivity of 11.1 percent. At the same time, labour costs rose by 2.0 percent in Austria, compared to an average decline of 1.0 percent among the EU trading partners. Thus manufacturing unit labour costs increased by 13.5 percent in Austria, while EU trading partners saw a rise in unit labour costs of 9.8 percent. In the economy as a whole, unit labour costs rose by 4.8 percent, more than the average of EU trading partners (+2.7 percent) and of all trading partners (+3.4 percent). These numbers must be considered with some caution. Policy measures to fight the crisis and their impact differed between countries. Moreover, countries were differently affected by the global economic crisis. This limits the explanatory power of unit labour costs as an indicator of international competitiveness for 2009.