Global Wage Report 2012-13

The new report entitled “Global Wage Report 2012/13: Wages and Equitable Growth” looks at differences in wages around the globe and how they have been influenced by the economic crisis. It includes global and regional wage trends and statistics, as well as policy recommendations.

Global wages: A complex picture

Patrick Belser, Senior ILO Economist

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Wage growth slows globally despite increases in emerging countries
1. Global monthly wages grew by 1.2 % in 2011, down from 3 % in 2007 and 2.1 % in 2010.
2. Wage growth suffered a double-dip in developed economies where it is forecast at zero per cent in 2012.
3. Throughout the crisis wages continued to grow in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
4. Video News release: The broken link: wages & productivity

Workers get a smaller slice of the pie
1. Workers get a smaller share of GDP, as a bigger slice goes to capital income. This trend has wide-ranging economic and social implications.
2. In 16 developed economies, the average labour share dropped from 75 % of national income in the mid-1970s to 65 % in the years just before the economic crisis.
3. In a group of 16 developing and emerging countries, it decreased from 62 % of GDP in the early 1990s to 58 % just before the crisis.

The risks of cutting labour costs

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Reconnecting wages and productivity

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Minimum wages key to cutting working poverty
1. The ILO has called on its 185 member states to adopt minimum wage policies as a way of reducing working poverty and providing social protection for vulnerable employees.
2. Minimum wages should take into account the needs of workers as well as economic factors, including levels of productivity, the requirements of economic development and the need to maintain a high level of employment