关键词: ULC, RULC, 制造业工资, 制造业国际竞争力

Abstract: Through calculating and comparing the Unit Labor Cost (ULC) and Relative Unit Labor Cost (RULC) between China and major export competition countries, this article found that Chinese manufacturing still had a large international competitive advantage, and the reason lied in that the growth rate of labor productivity of manufacturing workers was significantly faster than wage growth , which made the downward trend in unit labor cost. Furthermore, the comparison of RULC shows that even without considering that the higher wages will lead further improvement of labor productivity and the advantages in infrastructure, domestic market, and political environment, China is still able to withstand about 50% of the rise in labor compensation under the existing level of labor productivity. In addition, by calculating the adjusted ULC data with purchasing power parity, this paper revealed that although the exchange rate which had been undervalued strengthened the international competition advantage of Chinese manufacturing to some extent, this additional advantage has disappeared since the reform of the RMB exchange in 2005.

Key words: ULC；RULC；Manufacturing Wages, International Competitiveness of Manufacturing.