Definition

Unit labour costs measure the average cost of labour per unit of output produced. They are calculated as the ratios of total labour costs to real output. Equivalently, they may be expressed as the ratio of total labour costs per hours worked by employee (or per employee, if hours data is not available) to output per total hours worked (or per person employed if hours data is not available).

Data are taken from the OECD System of Unit Labour Cost and Related Indicators, which provides annual and quarterly information for OECD countries as well as for selected non-members countries. Labour productivity estimates are produced as a by-product of calculating unit labour cost. Data are presented as annual growth rates in unit labour costs for the economy as a whole; they refer to 34 countries (30 OECD member countries and 4 non-member countries) and 4 geographical regions in the period between 1998 and 2008.

For more statistics on economic, environmental and social issues visit online the OECD Factbook 2010.