Austrian Unit Labor Costs Down

BusinessEconomy ♦ Published: September 26, 2012; 21:11 ♦ (Vindobona)

Austrian enterprises become more competitive. Last year, unit labor costs were down by 4%.

Austrian Unit Labor Costs Down / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / The Communist International (based on an artwork by Boris Kustodiev, d. 1927) [Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication]

In 2011, productivity grew stronger than wages did. According to the Austrian economic research institute WIFO, Austria´s competitiveness increased. Productivity was up by 7.2%, gross wages increased by 2.9%.

In 2008, unit labor costs rose by 5.4%. One year later, unit labor costs were up by 11.5%. This was due to the short-time work in the manufacturing industry. In 2010, unit…