U.S. labor costs continue to climb while Japan’s remain fairly constant – and a Wall Street Journal reporter’s analysis interprets this as significant in the influx of Japanese cars, steel, and other wares into America. A journal chart shows American unit labor costs in factories rising from 100 to 140 on a scale for the 1975-80 period. But there was little fluctuation from the 100 level for the Japanese in the six years. Figures came from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Japan Productivity Center. Substantial productivity gains and moderate wage increases apparently are the key to the stability of Japan’s unit labor costs. Last year, hourly output of Japanese factory workers rose more than 8 percent, while their hourly pay climbed less than .7 percent. The result was a slight dip in Japanese labor costs per unit of output, said the Journal article. Meantime, the U.S. hourly output fell slightly, hourly pay rose about 9 percent, and unit labor costs climbed 10 percent. “Though pay increased less in Japan than in the U.S.,” the analysis said, “the buying power of Japanese paychecks climbed, while that of U.S. paychecks fell. That’s because of inflation. ”Japan’s consumerprice level increased 3.6 percent last year, some three percentage points less than the pay rise. But in the U.S., consumer prices soared 13.3 percent, about four points more than pay increased.” The auto industry was cited as an example of the U.S. labor-cost problem. “As a result of relentless pressure by the UAW, wages are between 30 and 50 percent higher than average U.S. industrial wages,” a report by the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank was quoted as saying. The report added that wages of U.S. auto workers are “more than double the wages of Japanese auto workers (and) the productivity of U.S. auto workers has been declining, while that of Japanese workers has been rising? The American steel industry faces a similar labor-cost bind, the Journal article asserted. Looking for solutions, one economist quoted by the paper said the U.S. must curb excessive laborcost increases if it is to revitalize its basic industries. It’s quite obvious that. among other problems. continuing inflation must be harnessed; costly regulation, including excessive environmental re quirements in some cases, needs reconsideration; and increased producttzity through joint wor ercompany initiatives is a must. It’s going to take a lot of teamwork by government. industry, and labor to solve problems related to keeping our factories competitive on the world market. In the search for ideas, motivation, and solutions, it makes sense to examine what other countries are doing.