Wages

Working conditions

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Wages are undoubtedly among the most important conditions of work and employment at the enterprise level. Being a cost for employers as well as the main source of income for workers, wages may be a potential source of conflict and have thus become the major focus of collective bargaining all over the world. At the same time, wages can represent a major source of discrimination and deprivation if no decent floor is guaranteed to the workers. On the economic side, wages represent an important part of labour costs and are an essential variable for enterprises' competitiveness which need to be analysed, also with regard to their interaction with other key economic variables, such as employment, productivity and investment. All the above factors have led States, together with employers' and workers' representatives, to reconsider their wages policies and undertake crucial reforms in this field or to consider new approaches for which the help of the ILO has been required.

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  • Revisiting the Minimum wage in the Enlarged EU: Addressing changes and challenges in the labour markets
    29 October 2008 - The minimum wage has returned to the core of the EU policy agenda. EU enlargement and increased migration flows for employment and better pay are one factor, but others include the significant rise in non-standard forms of employment, normally associated with lower wages, high proportions of low-paying jobs, rising insecurity and growing numbers of working poor. ...
  • International Women's Day 2006: More, but not always better jobs for women in Latin America
    28 February 2006 - With 33 million women joining the labour market between 1990 and 2004, women now represent 40 per cent of the economically active population in urban areas in Latin America. A recent detailed ILO study of progress achieved in women's labour force participation shows mixed results in terms of access to quality jobs, unemployment, remuneration and social protection. ...

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