ABSTRACT
Non-wage labour costs (NWLCs) are those categories of the firm’s total labour costs that comprise other than direct remuneration. They include fringe benefit payments, obligatory social welfare contributions, expenditures on recruitment and training as well as many other special cost items. Taken together, they form a very significant part of the average firm’s total expenditure on labour. Table 1.1 shows, for all industries, the ratio of NWLCs to total labour costs in eight OECD countries from 1966 to 1981. In 1981, they averaged 25-40 per cent of the total. Further, while the ratios have increased somewhat since the mid-1960s, it is clear that throughout this period NWLCs averaged roughly 30 per cent of total labour costs for all countries.
