Cyclical properties like railroads, even with monthly car loadings down 18%, are benefiting from lower cost diesel fuel, contractual rate increases and declining labor expense.
This massive devaluation would not lead to an export boom (as many commentators have suggested) because there is no export sector to speak of -- indeed despite the large decline in labor costs over the past 5 years exports are still not responding substantially, and the credit crunch resulting from the collapse of the banking system would not allow for any new investment.
Mr. Bradley said the European auto market, where G.M. has almost 15percentt of its sales, suffered from overcapacity, declining prices and high labor costs.
These hospitals have been facing rapidly declining incomes and rising labor costs at the same time, and the statistics from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) suggest that the aggregate hospital margin have been between −5% and −7% since 2007 and reached −5.4% in 2012.
"At the time I was very angry about the comedown," she said, "but then I asked a couple of others who had gone through the same experience how they felt and they said, 'We're thankful to have a job.' " The decline in unit labor costs is striking.
The decline in unit labor costs in Germany is related, among other things, to the behavior of social partners.
The decline in unit labor costs, which has been persistent, should add to corporate profits and show the Federal Reserve that inflation is not likely so "interest rates can remain low for a very long time indeed," says Kathleen Stephanson Kathleen Stephanson, an economist at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Germany's unit labor costs declined nearly 7 percent over the period, a remarkable performance.
For the year, unit labor costs declined 1.5 percent after having fallen 1.6 percent in 2009.
