By Caribbean News Global 
GENEVA, Switzerland — The International Labour Organization (ILO) Global wage report 2020-21 examines the evolution of real wages around the world, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The 2020-21 edition analyses the relationship of minimum wages and inequality, as well as the wage impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.
“It’s going to be a long road back and I think it’s going to be turbulent and it’s going to be hard”, said ILO director-general Guy Ryder, as he announced the findings of the ILO’s flagship Global Wage Report which is published every two years.
“The aftermath is going to be long-lasting and there is a great deal, I think, of turbulence and uncertainty,”Ryder said. “We have to face up to the reality, at least a strong likelihood that […] as wage subsidies and government interventions are reduced, as they will be over time, that we are likely to face continued downward pressure on wages.”
“This pandemic has revealed in a very cruel way, I have to say, a lot of the structural vulnerabilities, precariousness, that is baked into the current world of work. And we need to take the opportunity – it’s almost indecent isn’t it, to speak of opportunity arising out of this mega global tragedy of the pandemic – but we do have to extract from it, the types of opportunities that allow us to think about some of the fundamentals of the global economy and how we can, in the bounce-back process, make it function better.”
The 2020-21 edition also reviews minimum wage systems across the world and identifies the conditions under which minimum wages can reduce inequality. The report presents comprehensive data on levels of minimum wages, their effectiveness, and the number and characteristics of workers paid at or below the minimum. The report highlights how adequate minimum wages, statutory or negotiated, can play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the crisis.
“The Global Wage Report 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. It is an indispensable publication for economists, trade unionists, employers and the interested public.” − Hansjörg Herr, Berlin School of Economics and Law.
Download: ILO’s flagship Global Wage Report
