November 28, 2018:

In South Asia, India led the average real wage growth in 2008-17 at 5.5 against a regional median of 3.7.

India recorded the highest average real wage growth in South Asia during 2008–17, according to a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Reflecting more rapid economic growth than in other regions, workers in Asia & the Pacific have enjoyed the highest real wage growth among all regions over the period 2006-17, with countries such as China, India, Thailand & Viet Nam leading the way, the Global Wage Report 2018/19 said.

In South Asia, India led the average real wage growth in 2008-17 at 5.5 against a regional median of 3.7.

Following India was Nepal (4.7), Sri Lanka (4), Bangladesh (3.4), Pakistan (1.8) & Iran (0.4).

The report said that all emerging G-20 countries except Mexico experienced significant positive growth in average real wages between 2008 & 2017.

"Wage growth continues in Saudi Arabia, India & Indonesia, whereas in Turkey it declined to around 1 per cent in 2017," it said adding that South Africa & Brazil have experienced positive wage growth starting from 2016 after a phase of mostly zero growth during the period 2012-16, with negative growth in Brazil during 2015-16.

Russia suffered a significant drop in wage growth in 2015, again owing to the decline in oil prices, but has since then bounced back with moderate though positive wage growth.

It also noted that a number of countries have recently undertaken measures to strengthen their minimum wage with a view to providing more adequate labour protection.

South Africa announced the introduction of a national minimum wage in 2018, while lawmakers in India are examining the possibility of extending the legal coverage of the current minimum wage from workers in ‘scheduled' occupations to all wage employees in the country, it said.

The report added that wages grew higher & faster in less well-off countries last year than in richer nations, but salaries are still far too low in the developing world.

Pay rose by just 0.4 per cent during last year in advanced economies, but grew at over four per cent in developing countries.

Overall, 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 the last 20 years, average real wages have almost tripled in emerging & developing G20 countries, the ILO report also found, while in advanced G20 countries, they have increased by just nine per cent.

Faced with such low salary growth in richer economies in 2017 – with pay growing at its lowest level in a decade - the ILO chief noted with concern that this has happened despite a recovery in global output.

For the first time, the ILO report also focuses on the global gender pay gap, using data from 70 countries & some 80 per cent of employees worldwide.

Its findings indicate that despite some significant regional differences, men continue to be paid around 20 per cent more than women; "perhaps the biggest single injustice in the world of work", Ryder said.

In high-income countries the gender pay gap is at its biggest in top-salaried positions.

In low & middle-income countries, however, the gap is widest among lower-paid workers, the ILO report found.

Its data also suggests that traditional explanations for this - such as differences in the levels of education between men & women who work - play only a "limited" role in explaining gender pay gaps. Source Link

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