Insights into the New Manufacturing Locations

«Labour cost» is a frequently consulted Scoreboard indicator by our website visitors. In order to provide sufficiently reliable cost estimates, we are planning to launch our own Labour Cost Survey.

Labour cost

We refer to labour cost as the total cost per hour of employing production workers in manufacturing industries.

In computing this indicator, we have until now relied on publicly available data. For emerging economies, however, the available datasets suffer from serious inconsistencies, limiting the scope for cross-country comparisons.

Our survey

The aim of our Labour Cost Survey is to provide a unique and truly comparable set of information on labour cost for emerging economies.

To obtain reliable cost estimates, we seek the collaboration with persons with expert knowledge of pay and working conditions in the manufacturing sector in the countries to be covered.

Our survey respondents are likely to hold positions at trade and investment promotion agencies, industry federations, development or commercial banks etc.

Key definitions

To ensure comparability of the collected data, our respondents are asked to share their knowledge while using the following concepts and definitions. (See our Glossary for more detailed descriptions.)

Production workers produce and assemble products in factories — i.e. they operate and maintain machinery, ensure that production standards are met, finalize products, and prepare them for shipping.

For the purpose of this survey, production workers have at least three years of experience and work in the formal sector (i.e. establishments with 10 or more employees).

Total labour cost

Total labour cost refers to the cost of the compensation package that has to be offered to employ workers with the above profile. As shown schematically below,  this consists of the worker's direct compensation (blue areas) and the mandatory contributions by his employer (red areas).

Your estimates

Respondents are kindly requested to provide estimates of the below items of pay and working conditions (in early 2022) in their respective countries. In case of large regional differences, estimates are to reflect the conditions in the region with the lowest pay.

The gross monthly earnings (including overtime pay, bonuses etc.) of fulltime production workers — expressed in local currency.

The total value of the non-pay benefits (housing, transportation etc.) of fulltime production workers — expressed in % of the worker's gross earnings.

The total cost of the mandatory contributions of employers (i.e. social security payments and labour taxes) for fulltime production workers — expressed in % of the worker's gross earnings.

The number of hours actually worked — ordinary working hours plus overtime minus sick leave — by fulltime production workers during a normal working week.

The number of working days of annual paid vacation normally taken by fulltime production workers.

Thank you!

The estimates provided by respondents are highly appreciated. They become part of the 2022 edition of the Global Production Scoreboard — which will bring considerable transparency to manufacturing opportunities in emerging economies.

At the time of publication of the 2022 Scoreboard edition on our website, we will be pleased to notify all respondents by e-mail.