Video News Releases

Germany: Keeping Their Wages Through Kurzarbeit

15 December 2010

The global economic crisis has cut wage growth worldwide in half. That’s one conclusion of the ILO’s Global Wage Report. When people have less to spend, businesses suffer, and they in turn have to look at ways to cut costs, wages, and even jobs. But in Germany’s tightly run manufacturing sector, employees and employers worked together with the government to protect jobs and maintain wage levels during the darkest days of the crisis.

Informal economy work sees more working hours for men, less for women

08 June 2007

A new report from the ILO says that one in five workers worldwide work excessively long hours, up to 48 a week, often to merely make ends meet. The study also says women work shorter hours than men, most likely because they bear the brunt of responsibility for the unpaid work of taking care of the family and household.