As a consequence of its welfare state and aggressive unions, Germany has had the highest hourly labor costs in the world for most of the last twenty years; only recently has Denmark taken the lead due to a revaluation of the krona. Excessive wages destroy the labor-intensive upstream product stages too fast and also impairs other labor-intensive sectors like textiles, simple services, tourism, and construction.
从根本上而言，失业和出口激增并存可以通过严格的高工资来解释。德国目前还是深受其害。严格的高工资来源于过分的工会政策，特别是来源于作为整体经济中最低工资限制的福利国家安置收入。在过去20年中的大多数时间里，德国的每小时劳动力成本居于世界首位, 只是由于最近丹麦货币克朗重新估价才使得丹麦名列第一。过度的工资极快地摧毁劳动密集型上游产品阶段，还破坏像纺织品、简单服务业、旅游业和建筑业等其他劳动密集型部门。