Global Recession Turns Top-Tier Economies Upside Down

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from In These Times:



Global Recession Turns Top-Tier Economies Upside Down

Wednesday
Dec 22, 2010
3:00 pm

By Michelle Chen


This year, the big list of who's naughty and nice won't come from Santa. The International Labour Organization has published its Global Wage Report 2010/11. It's another reminder that workers should expect no glad tidings in the coming year as the recession continues to snowball around the globe.

It wasn't all bad news. Wages are generally on an upward trendline. But in its analysis of national wage data sampled from 115 countries and territories, the ILO reports:

growth in average monthly wages slowed from 2.8 per cent in 2007, on the eve of the crisis, to 1.5 per cent in 2008 and 1.6 per cent in 2009. Excluding China from the aggregate, the global average wage growth drops to 0.8 in 2008 and 0.7 in 2009....

In particular... since the mid-1990s the proportion of people on low pay – defined as less than two-thirds of median wage – has increased in more than two-thirds of countries with available data.

The range of countries that have seen a growth in low-paid workers span the spectrum of "development," including "Argentina, China, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, the Republic of Korea, Poland and Spain." Paradoxically this growth in the low-wage labor force will be met with Europe's onslaught of harsh austerity measures, which economists predict will not only shred the safety net but also deepen the overall economic contraction (meaning more misery for ordinary people).

Some countries, however, might be getting smarter about rejiggering their economies with a combination of organized labor power and aggressive fiscal policy. For example, the ILO says, departing from policies tried by governments in response to earlier economic crises, half of the surveyed countries this time around "have adjusted their minimum wages either as part of the regular minimum wage review process or with the aim of protecting the purchasing power of the most vulnerable workers." Building on the baseline of economic security provided by government, the ILO finds, "Wages are better aligned with productivity in countries where collective bargaining covers more than 30 per cent of employees." ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6794/global_recession_turns_top-tier_economies_upside_down/