Labor costs

Japanese: 労働費用 - ろうどうひよう（英語表記）labor costs

This term is used to include not only the wages that companies pay directly to employees, but also indirectly incurred costs as related labor costs, and is, in a sense, the total labor costs of a company. The idea of total labor costs originated in the early Showa period, when Japan responded to foreign criticism of its low wages by pointing out that there were welfare costs in addition to wages. In other words, the problem began with industrial competitiveness. After World War II, with the development of social security and in-company welfare, social charges (the burden of social policy costs on companies) began to become an issue in Western Europe as well.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

この語は企業が従業員に直接支給する給与ばかりでなく，関連の労務費として間接的に支出した費用も含めて使われ，いわば企業の総労務費である。総労務費という考え方の起りは昭和初期に日本の低賃金に対する海外からの非難に対し賃金以外にも福利厚生費があることを弁解したことに始まった。つまり産業の競争力が問題の発端である。第2次大戦後は社会保障や企業内福祉の発達によって，西ヨーロッパでもソーシャル･チャージsocial charge(社会政策的費用の企業負担)が問題になりだした。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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