GLOBAL WAGES REPORT

GLOBAL WAGES REPORT

Subject : International reports

Context : The ILO report titled ‘Global Wage Report 2020-21: Wages and minimum wages in the time of COVID-19’ is available at ILO’s official website.

Concept :

Key Highlights of Global Wage Report 2020-21

• It comments on various issues including on Indian workers having low average wages, longer hours as well as that the workers in Asia and the Pacific.
• The 2020-21 edition analyses the relationship of minimum wages and inequality, as well as the wage impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.
• The global wage growth fluctuated between 1.6 and 2.2 per cent in the four years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (2016–19).
• In advanced G20 economies, the real wage growth fluctuated between 0.4 and 0.9 per cent.
• Among advanced G20 economies, wage growth accelerated the most (by 22 per cent) in the Republic of Korea, followed by Germany (15 per cent).
• The impacts of the crisis on total wages have fallen differently on men and women, the latter being disproportionately affected.
• The COVID-19 crisis disproportionately affected lower-paid workers, thereby increasing wage inequalities.
• The report highlighted that minimum wages, statutory or negotiated, exist in 90 per cent of the 187 ILO Member States.

Global Wage Report

• It is a flagship report of ILO which examines the evolution of real wages around the world, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region.
• It is central to the analysis of wage trends and labour market developments as well as to the theoretical debate about the role of labour in the economy.

International Labour Organisation (ILO)

• It is the only tripartite United Nations agency established in 1919.
• It brings together governments, employers and workers of 187 member States.
• It aims to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men.