Wages are undoubtedly among the most important conditions of work and employment at the enterprise level. Being a cost for employers as well as the main source of income for workers, wages may be a potential source of conflict and have thus become the major focus of collective bargaining all over the world. At the same time, wages can represent a major source of discrimination and deprivation if no decent floor is guaranteed to the workers. On the economic side, wages represent an important part of labour costs and are an essential variable for enterprises' competitiveness which need to be analysed, also with regard to their interaction with other key economic variables, such as employment, productivity and investment. All the above factors have led States, together with employers' and workers' representatives, to reconsider their wages policies and undertake crucial reforms in this field or to consider new approaches for which the help of the ILO has been required.
