Chartbook of International Labor Comparisons: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe

[Excerpt] This chartbook focuses on the labor market situation in selected countries in the 1996-2006 period. Charts in sections 1 through 4 and section 6 include countries in North America (the United States, Canada, and Mexico) and selected Asian-Pacific and European economies. Weighted aggregates for 15 European Union countries (EU-15) are shown on most charts. These represent European Union member countries prior to the expansion of the European Union to 25 countries on May 1, 2004 and to 27 countries on January 1, 2007. The EU-15 countries are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It should be noted that the selected economies are not representative of all of Europe and the Asian-Pacific region; rather, they tend to be the more industrialized economies in these regions. In section 5, several indicators are presented for five large emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation. Due to the lack of suitable data, some of the countries do not appear on all charts. The appendix describes the definitions, sources, and methods used to compile the data in the chartbook. For some series, the appendix provides cautions about the exact comparability of the measures