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...

In 2009 the economic crisis had a significant impact on the unit labour cost position of Austrian manufacturing. It brought about a decline of per-capita labour productivity, an increase in labour costs and, as a result, a significant increase in unit labour costs. At the same time, the...

Social policy measures and the social systems markedly mitigated the effects of the severe financial and economic crisis in 2009 and 2010. The largest contribution to the stabilisation resulted from the automatic stabilisers, whose effects vary between countries. On the revenue side they are...

In Austria, the economic recovery after the financial crisis was accompanied by a reduction in unit labour costs in the manufacturing of goods in 2011. Although this decline only partly compensated for the rise in unit labour costs taking place in 2008 and 2009, unit labour cost development has...

In 2012, the recession shaped the development of unit labour costs in Austria. Labour costs in the manufacturing of goods increased by 3.2 percent, while labour productivity developed very weakly (+0.1 percent). This represents a rise in unit labour costs of about 3 percent. However, Austria's...

In 2008, Austria ranked ninth in the international labour cost hierarchy. Labour was most expensive in Norway, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden. As the Austrian economy was less affected by the global economic crisis than the economies of its trading partners, Austria's labour productivity and...