Global Wage Report 2016/17: Wage Inequality in the Workplace

This new ILO Global Wage Report – the fifth in a series that now spans over a decade – contributes to this agenda by making comparative data and information on recent wage trends available to governments, social partners, academics and the general public. These trends show that global real wage growth dropped sharply during the post-2008 economic crisis, recovered in 2010, but has since decelerated. If China, where wage growth was faster than elsewhere, is not included, wage growth fell below 1 per cent in 2015. As I emphasized at the World Bank and IMF annual meetings in October 2016, rekindling growth requires an increase in consumer spending and in turn sustainable wage and social protection policies.2 Improving wages and decent work opportunities will be essential to breaking out of the slow-growth trap in which the global economy currently finds itself.