ILO Wage Report

In its latest report, Global Wage Report 2016/17, ILO said international wage growth dropped to 1.7 percent last year compared to the 2.5 percent in 2012. If China, where wage growth was faster than elsewhere, is not included, growth in global wages dropped from 1.6 per cent to 0.9 per cent.

In Europe, the top 10 per cent of best paid employees take on average 25.5 per cent of the total wages paid to all employees in their respective countries, which is almost as much as what the lowest-paid 50 per cent get (29.1 per cent). The share of the top 10 per cent goes even higher in some emerging economies, for example Brazil (35.0 per cent), India (42.7 per cent) and South Africa (49.2 per cent)

Inequality between enterprises tends to be larger in developing than in developed countries. While in developed countries the average wages of the top 10 per cent of enterprises tend to be two to five times as high as those of the bottom 10 per cent, this ratio goes up to eight in Vietnam and even 12 in South Africa. On average, in 22 European countries, inequality within enterprises accounts for 42 per cent of total wage inequality, while the rest is due to inequality between enterprises.

When comparing the wages of individuals to the average wage of the enterprises in which they work, the report found that in Europe about 80 per cent are paid less than the average of the enterprise in which they work. In the one per cent of enterprises with the highest average wages, the bottom one per cent of workers are paid on average Euro 7.1 per hour while the top one per cent are paid on average Euro 844 per hour.