 | GLOBAL WAGE REPORT 2010/2011
The ILO"s 2010 Global Wage Report provides clear evidence on the impact of the global capitalist crisis and urgently calls on governments, employers and trade unions to materialise their, otherwise, rhetoric support of the internationally agreed ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation and the Global Jobs Pact, which requires a jobs- and income-based growth strategy.
The ILO's 2010 global wage report asserts that the global economic crisis has had devastating consequences on labour markets. Unemployment has increased to 210 million, the highest level ever recorded, and many millions more have simply dropped out of the labour force because they are too discouraged to continue looking for work. Paychecks have been affected too. The report shows in particular that the global growth in real average wages was reduced by half in 2008 and 2009, compared to earlier years. This highlights how while the crisis has been dramatic for those who lost their jobs, smaller than expected paychecks have also severely affected the purchasing power and well-being of those who managed to stay in work.
In this way, the ILO argues that a jobs- and income-based growth strategy is urgently needed to bring the global economy back on track, to redress past imbalances and to place economic growth on more solid foundations. As could be expected, the most pressing challenges to be dealt with are rising wage inequality, the growing disconnect between wages and productivity, and the 330 million or so employees who are now amongst the low paid in their country. A figure that the Jus Semper can only deem as rather conservative given the fact that the vast majority of workers in emerging and other developing countries do not earn a living wage by any standard. Rather optimistically, the report hopes that policy makers and their social partners will use its findings to advance their decent work objectives.
Download the full 2010/2011 report
Click here or on the picture to download the full pdf file.
Click here to download the french version of the ILO's 2010-2011 update on wages in a pdf file.
GLOBAL WAGE REPORT 2008/09 and 2009 update
Wages lost GDP share in favour of profits; whilst loss of share was deeper in countries with a higher openness to international trade
The first edition of this study, to be published every two years clearly asserts that in the 2001 – 2007 period real wages lost ground in their share of GDP in favour employers profits despite the economic expansion climate experienced. During the 2001 – 2007 period, inflation was low and the global economy grew 4% in real terms. Nonetheless, wage growth lagged behind economic performance as a whole. According to ILO's estimates, real wages only grew 1,9% during 2001-2007, despite the strong recovery of some economies that continue to be or were in transition (Eastern Europe). Therefore, the slow wage growth was accompanied by a decline in GDP share in favour of shareholder value. Moreover, the ILO identified share of GDP has declined faster in countries with a higher openness to international trade, possibly, the ILO reckons, because openness places a lid on wage demands based on a fear of losing jobs to imports. In this way, a "virtuous circle" is deliberately created in favour of domestic companies as well as for transnationals that open operations in these countries of that outsource labour at misery prices. Another –rather obvious– consequence that the ILO pinpoints is the increase in inequality. A s a whole, more than two thirds of the countries included in the ILO's sample suffered wage inequality increases due both top wages took off in some countries and because bottom wages fell relative to median wages. Also, gender wage inequality recorded meagre improvement if at all.
The report's asserted that, given that the economic context is now much less favourable, the outlook for 2009 is much less optimistic. Indeed, in its the 2009 update, the ILO confirmed that the economic crisis has been dramatic due to the strong recession that began in the U.S. for a variety or causes –which evolve around financial markets' speculation. Thus, as a whole, in the sample of 53 countries, with consistent data, more than one fourth recorded no growth or a fall in real wages. In this way, the ILO's outlook for the remainder of the year is that wage conditions will get worse despite the "beginning" of a "possible" economic recovery.
Download the full 2008/2009 report
Click here or on the picture to download the full pdf file.
Click here to download the French version of the ILO's 2009 update on wages in a pdf file. | |
