ADDIS ABABA (ILO News) – Tentative estimates show that real wages grew by less than 1 per cent in Africa, according to the ILO’s Global Wage Report 2014/15.
Wage growth around the world slowed in 2013 to 2.0 per cent, compared to 2.2 per cent in 2012, and has yet to catch up to the pre-crisis rates of about 3.0 per cent, notes the report.
In Africa, there are considerable data constraints. Notwithstanding these limitations, real wage growth declined in Africa in 2011, resumed in 2012 and slowed in 2013, in significant measure because of reduced or negative real wage growth in South Africa.
Coverage of Africa is limited to South Africa due to difficulties in obtaining data sets for other countries with information on both individual wages and household income.
In South Africa, the rise in inequality during 2007–11 occurred because the income growth of the top 10 percent of bottom households stagnated in real terms, while that of top percent of households continued to increase at about the same rate as in the earlier period.
The ILO report suggests a number of recommendations, including policies which promote gender equality at work and in the home.
In South Africa, raising the income of low-income groups has been achieved through direct employment programmes.
The share of wages rises sharply among the three higher income groups of the country, with social transfers representing the largest share of income to those in the entire lower half of the distribution.
However, the distribution of productivity gains is still a matter of debate. Trends in wages and labour productivity using the Post-Apartheid Labour Market Series show that on average – at least since the year 2000 – wages and productivity have largely moved in tandem but national accounts data show a decline in the unadjusted labour income share for the same period (UNdata, 2014).
The report includes a detailed analysis of recent trends in household income inequality and the role played by wages in these trends.
