Falling Labour Costs Raise Competitiveness of Manufacturing Industry

Moderate wage increases and strong gains in labour productivity gave Austrian manufacturing industry a competitive advantage in unit labour costs over the last ten years. However, this positive trend became at times reversed by strong fluctuations in exchange rates. Thus, unlike a couple of years ago, a working hour is now more costly in Austria than in the U. S., France or Italy. Since 1988, relative unit labour costs in Austria have resumed their downward trend.