While much attention has been deservedly given to the financial roots of the current economic crisis, the role of wages as a cause as well as a solution has yet to be fully understood. To help fill this gap, this issue of the International Journal of Labour Research is largely dedicated to this topic.

Contributors look at the policy roots of growing wage inequality, the secular decline in the wage share of national income in recent decades, and how these developments are intertwined with the financial crisis. Their essays offer critiques of mainstream economic analysis of labour markets and present alternative analytical frameworks in the effort to understand the role that wages can play in a wage-led recovery strategy. Elements of such a strategy, including re-linking wages to productivity gains and improving minimum wage floors, are presented and discussed.

Further articles explore other current trends related to the crisis. One, for instance, examines how in Greece the response to fiscal crisis has evolved into a full-fledged attack on labour, and how this may well become the template for future policy responses in the rest of Europe.

The aim of the International Journal of Labour Research, launched by the Bureau of Workers' Activities of the ILO is to provide an overview of recent research on labour and social policies from trade union researchers and academics around the world. The journal is multidisciplinary and of interest to trade union researchers, labour ministries and academics of all relevant disciplines worldwide - industrial relations, sociology, law, economics and political science.

The International Journal of Labour Research is published twice a year in English, French and Spanish. Each issue focuses on a specific theme.