Chart: Worker compensation costs in India are 3.1% of U.S. level

In 2005, India's average hourly compensation cost for all employees in manufacturing was $0.91 when measured in U.S dollars; this was approximately 3.1 percent of the level seen in the United States.

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When measured in Indian rupees, total compensation of all employees in India's organized manufacturing sector increased by 36.0 percent from 1999 to 2005.

When measured in U.S. dollars the increase for all employees was slightly less (34.1 percent) over the same period because of the depreciation of the rupee relative to the dollar.

Over the period from 1999 to 2005, hourly compensation costs for all employees in Indian manufacturing fluctuated between 2.7 and 3.1 percent of the U.S. level. This fluctuation is due in part to changes in the rupee-to-dollar exchange rate.

Among the economies studied by BLS International Labor Comparisons program, the lowest hourly compensation costs for all employees in manufacturing in 2005 were found in India (3.1 percent of the U.S. level) and the Philippines (3.6 percent of the U.S. level).

To learn more, see "Labor costs in India's organized manufacturing sector," (PDF) in the Monthly Labor Review, May 2010 issue.