The average employee has a better standard of living in the UK than in most other European Union countries, quotes the Financial Times from a study published in the country. The research by Sedgwick Noble Lowndes, the remuneration consultants, compares average earnings across Europe, taking account of deductions for income tax and contributions to pensions and welfare benefits. It says that after adjustments for national differences in pricing and purchasing power, the average UK employee receives the equivalent of £6.80 ($11.08) an hour -- compared with £6.50 in Germany, £6.30 in France and £6.70 in Sweden.

For the average employee, deductions from gross earnings are 25 per cent in the UK. This rate compares favourably with countries such as Germany and Denmark, where deductions of 33 per cent and 38 per cent reduce the higher salaries of their employees to below the UK level.

In fact, the UK comes fourth, behind Luxemborough with net hourly earnings of £7.40, Austria with --7.10 and Ireland with --7. Germany is seventh and France is eighth. The average Japanese employee earns a net of £8.90 hourly. The US average is --6.90

IG Metall for wage hike

Germany's largest Union, IG Metall, has taken a stand that it will push for a wage hike of 5 per cent for some 8,000 metal workers in eastern Germany. Talks are set to begin in late September or early October. Associated Press reports that a regional representative in Saxony, however, said the Union is ready to exchange some of that increase for fewer working hours. Although a 38-hour week has been agreed upon until the end of 1998, alternatives such as fewer hours are also being explored to help save jobs in the country.

English alone won't do

A survey carried out earlier this year by Grant Thornton, an accountant firm in the UK, found that only 38 per cent of British companies could claim to have even one executive with a second language, the second worst record in Europe behind Ireland. Financial Times reports that while some argue that English is the international business language, the rise of Asian economies and those in South America, where Spanish predominates, suggests companies would be mistaken to rely on English alone. Those Western companies that have executives with good language skills may find themselves better placed to take advantage of the opportunities in these markets.

Cottage industry in the making

A report in The Economist states that the ``corporate governance'' movement continues to focus on narrow rules and regulations, to the point where producing rule-books for boardrooms has become something of a cottage industry. In America, Calpers, one of the country's largest public pension funds, recently issued its own new list of boardroom ``best practices''.

Similar efforts are underway in other rich countries, and within the bureaucracy of the OECD, as company bosses seek ways to please their increasing global investors.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.