Statistics on Wages

Statistics on wages

Access to employment for all is a key goal of policymakers around the globe. Employment is indeed a core element of our livelihoods and lives. However, having a job is no guarantee of a decent living: job quality is required as well. Working conditions on the job will determine to a great extent our living conditions.

Remuneration is a crucial aspect of working conditions. Decent work is productive work which provides workers with adequate earnings, ensuring satisfactory living conditions for workers and their families. At the same time, monitoring the evolution of wages and earnings provides insights into the extent to which workers benefit from gains in productivity.

The objective of non-discrimination and equal treatment in employment implies that workers should receive equal pay for work of equal value. Disaggregated data for wages statistics serve to assess the extent to which this is true.

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Global Wage Report 2018-19: What lies behind the gender pay gaps

The Global Wage Report 2018/19 finds that in real terms (adjusted for price inflation) global wage growth declined to 1.8 per cent in 2017 from 2.4 per cent in 2016. The findings are based on data from 136 countries.

In analyzing wage growth, the report finds that in advanced G20 countries real wage growth declined from 0.9 per cent in 2016 to 0.4 per cent in 2017. By contrast, in emerging and developing G20 countries, real wage growth fluctuated between 4.9 per cent in 2016 and 4.3 per cent in 2017.

Also, the report calculates gender pay gaps in innovative and more accurate ways, using data covering some 70 countries and about 80 per cent of wage employees worldwide. It finds that globally women continue to be paid approximately 20 per cent less than men.