Further Improvement in Labour Cost Position of Manufacturing

Even though hourly earnings rose substantially faster than in other countries (on a schilling basis), Austria's manufacturing sector was able to improve its competitive position. Strong productivity increases lowered unit labour costs by 3¼ percent relative to a trade-weighted average of Austria's trading partners, by 1½ percent relative to West Germany. Austria's competitive advantage will also increase this year and offset the deterioration in the years 1986/87 when a number of currencies strongly depreciated vis-à-vis the schilling. In 1990, the competitive position of the Austrian manufacturing industry is as favourable as in the early sixties. In 1989 total labour costs per working hour were AS 189, as high as in Italy and the U. S. In the industrial countries, labour costs were only lower in the U. K. and in France.