The report shows that wages and the purchasing power of households have been dented considerably during the past three years, first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then, as the world economy started to recover from that crisis, by the global rise in inflation. Available evidence for 2022 suggests that rising inflation is causing real wage growth to dip into negative figures in many countries, reducing the purchasing power of the middle class and hitting low-income groups particularly hard. This cost-ofliving crisis comes on top of significant losses in the total wage bill for workers and their families during the COVID-19 crisis, which in many countries had the greatest impact on low-income groups. In the absence of adequate policy responses, the near future could see a sharp erosion of the real incomes of workers and their families and an increase in inequality, threatening the economic recovery and possibly fuelling further social unrest.

The report shows that wages and the purchasing power of households have been dented considerably during the past three years, first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then, as the world economy started to recover from that crisis, by the global rise in inflation. Available evidence for 2022 suggests that rising inflation is causing real wage growth to dip into negative figures in many countries, reducing the purchasing power of the middle class and hitting low-income groups particularly hard. This cost-ofliving crisis comes on top of significant losses in the total wage bill for workers and their families during the COVID-19 crisis, which in many countries had the greatest impact on low-income groups. In the absence of adequate policy responses, the near future could see a sharp erosion of the real incomes of workers and their families and an increase in inequality, threatening the economic recovery and possibly fuelling further social unrest.

Résumé.Les auteurs observent la couverture et le respect de la législation sur le salaire minimum dans onze pays en développement. Ils mettent en relation l'étendue de cette couverture et le degré de ce respect avec le niveau du salaire minimum, l'existence d'un taux unique ou de taux multiples et la façon dont il est fixé et mis en application. La couverture et le respect sont supérieurs, et le niveau optimal atteint, lorsque le système est simple et bien connu, et que les travailleurs et les employeurs sont associés à la fixation du salaire minimum et à son application.

Using household and labour force survey data from 11 developing countries, the authors calculate rates of minimum wage compliance for formal/informal employees covered by current legislation and assess the average depth of violations. Though compliance is negatively related to the ratio of minimum to median wages, countries with a national minimum wage set at a meaningful level typically achieve higher compliance rates than countries with occupational or industry-specific minimum wage systems. However, better compliance - especially for women, ethnic groups, and unskilled and informal workers - also depends on contextualized yet comprehensive minimum wage policies combining union/employer involvement, awareness-raising and credible enforcement.

ResumenA partir de datos estadísticos, los autores analizan la cobertura del salario mínimo en once países en desarrollo, su grado de incumplimiento y la brecha salarial derivada de este, tanto para trabajadores formales como informales. Observan que los países con salario mínimo nacional (aun a buen nivel en relación con la mediana salarial) obtienen mejor cumplimiento que aquellos con salarios mínimos múltiples por ocupación y sector. Abogan además por políticas amplias de sensibilización y control con participación de los interlocutores sociales a fin de afrontar la brecha superior que afecta a las mujeres, los grupos étnicos y los trabajadores no calificados e informales.

Minimum wages can be a powerful tool for supporting decent work goals and can be a crucial component to the strengthening of social protection floors and poverty alleviation efforts. This paper argues that effectiveness of minimum wages depends on three aspects: first, on the legal coverage of minimum wage systems; second, the level at which minimum wages are set; and third, the ability to ensure compliance with legal minimum wage provisions, so as to ensure the goal of improving incomes and reducing inequality.

Résumé.Les inégalités et la pauvreté en Inde ont été beaucoup étudiées, mais sans guère d'attention au rôle du marché du travail. Pour y remédier, les auteurs examinent le phénomène des faibles rémunérations, avec son ampleur, ses caractéristiques et ses déterminants. Ils établissent un seuil absolu de gains au‐delà duquel les travailleurs ont un niveau de vie décent. Partant de microdonnées sur les ménages des salariés et des travailleurs indépendants, ils constatent qu'environ la moitié de la main‐d'œuvre indienne est mal rémunérée, ce qui dénote un grave déficit de «travail décent». Ils proposent des pistes pour élever les salaires et la productivité, donc les gains.

While inequality and poverty in India have been much studied, little attention has been given to the underlying role of the labour market. To help remedy this gap, the authors examine low pay in India, giving particular attention to its magnitude, characteristics and determinants. An absolute low-pay threshold is calculated that, if reached, would provide workers with a decent livelihood. Using household-level micro-data that cover wage earners and the self-employed, the authors find that roughly half of India's workforce is low-paid, revealing a serious decent work deficit. They propose policies to improve wages and productivity and thereby boost earnings.

We would like to thank Raymond Torres and Mito Tsukamoto for their comments on an earlier draft. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Labour Organization.After years of relative neglect, minimum wages are again perceived as a useful and relevant policy tool which can make a major contribution to social justice by improving the lives of low-paid women and men worldwide. A number of countries around the world have experienced positive changes which have contributed to this change in perception. In the United Kingdom, for example, a survey by political experts1 has identified the national minimum wage introduced in 1999 as the most successful policy of the past 30 years. In emerging countries, too, minimum wages are making a strong comeback. In Brazil the reactivation of the national minimum wage since 1995 is widely credited - together with Bolsa familia, a cash transfer programme - for the recent reduction in poverty and inequality (Berg and Tobin, 2011). In South Africa, wage floors were introduced in 2002 to fight the racial discrimination introduced under apartheid and to support the wages of millions of low-paid farm workers, hospitality workers, domestic workers and others in sectors where unions are weak. In China, new regulations were issued in 2004 in the face of growing concerns about increasing wage inequality. Finally, in Egypt and other countries rejuvenated by the Arab Spring, governments have been forced to respond to the demands for minimum wages by young revolutionaries and trade unionists.In developing countries, however, two questions frequently arise. First, to what extent can minimum wages be enforced in a context characterized by a large number of casual and informal wage earners who operate beyond the reach of understaffed labour inspection services? Second, where minimum wages are implemented, do they benefit the poorest and most vulnerable groups in society or do they merely reinforce the segmentation and inequality between a few fortunate salaried workers and all the others?Our paper discusses these questions in the context of India, a developing country with a particularly strong minimum wage tradition. India was one of the first developing countries to introduce a minimum wage policy. According to John (1997), the enactment of the Minimum Wages Act in 1948 was the result of both internal and external factors. Internal factors included the increase in the number of factories and wage earners during the first half of the twentieth century, as well as the growing number of industrial unrests and strikes of workers who rebelled against their starvation External factors included the adoption by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1928 of Convention No. 26 on minimum wage fixing in trades in which no effective collective bargaining takes place or where wages are exceptionally low. The Minimum Wage Act of 1948 is still considered to this day to be one of the most important pieces of labour legislation in India.The first section of the paper describes briefly India's complex system of minimum wages. The second looks at the effectiveness of minimum wages in the country. Using the 2009-10 Employment-Unemployment Survey data, we estimate the proportion of salaried and casual wage earners among India's workers. We then discuss the extent to which the minimum wage is paid for wage earners at all-India level, and also for certain specific schedules of employment. The third section considers who benefits from the various minimum wages in India. Finally, we discuss the role of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme2 (NREGS) in enforcing minimum wages.Minimum wages in IndiaWhile India was one of the first developing countries to adopt minimum wages, its system also remains to this day one of the most complicated in the world. The 1948 legislation determines that the appropriate government should fix minimum wage rates payable to employees in a number of listed sectors (or scheduled employments). …

Resumen.Son numerosas las investigaciones sobre desigualdad y pobreza en la India, pero los factores laborales subyacentes han recibido poca atención. Por ello los autores estudian aquí el problema de la baja remuneración, su magnitud, características y determinantes. Calculan un umbral absoluto de baja remuneración por encima del cual un trabajador puede llevar una vida digna. A partir de microdatos sobre trabajadores asalariados, ocasionales y por cuenta propia, constatan que alrededor de la mitad de la población activa india trabaja con baja remuneración, lo cual apunta a un grave déficit de trabajo decente. Se proponen políticas para aumentar los ingresos y la productividad del trabajo.

Resumen.Hay millones de trabajadores domésticos en el mundo, la mayoría de los cuales carecen de protección laboral porque sirven en hogares privados sujetos a relaciones de trabajo singulares. Están desamparados frente a la explotación, los abusos y la violencia, y realizan a menudo mucho trabajo por poco salario. El Convenio sobre las trabajadoras y los trabajadores domésticos (núm. 189) y su Recomendación complementaria (núm. 201), adoptados en junio de 2011 por la OIT, encarnan la determinación de gobiernos y organizaciones de empleadores y de trabajadores de todo el mundo de remediar esta situación. Los autores del artículo, que participaron en los preparativos y negociaciones que alumbraron estas normas, estudian el contenido y los puntos polémicos de las mismas.

The world's millions of domestic workers are mostly excluded from national labour laws because they work in private homes, in employment relationships with special characteristics. They are highly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse often overworked, underpaid and subjected to violence. Adopted in June 2011, the ILO's Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 201) embody the resolve of governments and workers' and employers' organizations worldwide to remedy this situation. The authors of this paper, who were closely associated with the preparations and tripartite negotiations that led to the adoption of these instruments, review their contents and highlights of the underlying debates.