In 2022, unit labour costs in Austrian manufacturing increased by 2.2 percent year-on-year. This implies a significant improvement
in relative unit labour costs, both compared with the weighted average of all trading partners (–3.3 percentage points) and
with EU trading partners (–1.7 percentage points). Relative unit labour costs also improved compared with Germany, the most
important trading partner (–1.4 percentage points). This development vis-à-vis our trading partners is being driven by a weaker
increase in labour costs coupled with a stronger rise in productivity. The favourable exchange rate development had a supporting
effect. When interpreting the data, long-term comparisons still need to take into account country-specific differences in
the COVID-19 aid measures. The data for 2022 may also have been distorted by the different international approaches to cushioning
high inflation.
JEL-Codes:F16, F31, J3, L6
Keywords:Unit labour costs, Price competitiveness, Manufacturing
Forschungsbereich:Arbeitsmarktökonomie, Einkommen und soziale Sicherheit – Industrie-, Innovations- und internationale Ökonomie