Resource guide on minimum wages

"Minimum wage may be understood to mean the minimum sum payable to a worker for work performed or services rendered, within a given period, whether calculated on the basis of time or output, which may not be reduced either by individual or collective agreement, which is guaranteed by law and which may be fixed in such a way as to cover the minimum needs of the worker and his or her family, in the light of national economic and social conditions."

Minimum wages: wage-fixing machinery, application and supervision, Report III (Part 4B), International Labour Conference, 79th Session, Geneva, 1992 (pdf 8.84 MB)

On this page: Find information on minimum wages through Labordoc • International Labour Standards • Statistics • In the media • Key ILO documents • ILO databases • ILO links • External links • Photos • Videos

Find information on minimum wages through Labordoc

• ILO publications on minimum wages
• All publications on minimum wages available in Labordoc

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International Labour Standards

Conventions

• C26 Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928
• C94 Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949
• C99 Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951
• C100 Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951
• C117 Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962
• C131 Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970
• C168 Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Convention, 1988

Recommendations

• R30 Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Recommendation, 1928
• R89 Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1951
• R90 Equal Remuneration Recommendation, 1951
• R135 Minimum Wage Fixing Recommendation, 1970

International labour standards can be found in the NORMLEX database.

Statistics

• ILO / TRAVAIL: Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws
• ILO: LABORSTA, the ILO database on labour statistics
• ILO: Global Wage Report 2010/11: wage policies in times of crisis (pdf 5.12 MB)


• European Commission: Eurostat: usages and labour costs
• OECD: OECD.Stat Extracts (see Labour > Earnings)

Statistical methods

• LABORSTA: definition of wages
• Setting the minimum wage (pdf 269 KB), Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 2009
• Measuring low pay : the importance of timing, (pdf 125 KB), Office for National Statistics UK, 2007
• Statistical aspects of minimum wage determination, 1997 (pdf 64 KB)

In the media

• ILO says economic crisis eroding real wages for second year running, 3 November 2009
• ILO warns of cuts in real wages for millions of workers in 2009 – Declines follow decade in which wages failed to keep pace with economic growth, 25 November 2008
• Revisiting the Minimum wage in the Enlarged EU: addressing changes and challenges in the labour markets, 29 October 2008