International Unit Labour Cost Position Improved in 2006

Austria ranks 11th in the international hierarchy of labour costs. The worker's hour is most expensive in Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. In 2006, an hour of work in the Austrian manufacturing sector cost 29.15 €. Due to low productivity growth and the appreciation of the euro, Austria's unit labour cost position deteriorated relative to the average of trading partners between 2003 and 2005 after a marked improvement in the latter half of the 1990s. In 2006 it improved again by almost 2 percent.