Living Wage

Gov.UK (2015) explain how ’From April 2016, the government will introduce a new mandatory National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 - a rise of 70p relative to the current National Minimum Wage (NMW) rate, and 50p above the increase coming into force into October. Thats a £1,200 per annum increase in earnings for a full-time worker or the current NMW’. However, at the moment ‘the adult NMW rate is currently £6.50. It will increase to £6.70 from October 2015. From April 2016 the premium will come into effect on top of the NMW, taking the National Living Wage to £7.20’.

Current Living Wage per hour: £7.85

Current Minium Wage per hour: £6.70

Ukraine

Current Living Wage per hour: £10.22

Current Minium Wage per hour: £1.48

India

In India, wages varies across states as each state government set a separate minimum wage, they are all set accoring to the Mimimum Wages Act, 1948. In India, 422 million workers are considered to be informal workers, so are being exploited.

Current Living Wage per hour: £3.60

Current Minium Wage per hour: £0.27

Switzerland

Switzerland could soon be the world’s first national case study in basic income. Instead of providing a traditional social net—unemployment payments, food stamps, or housing credits—the government would pay every citizen a fixed stipend.

The proposed plan would guarantee a monthly income of CHF 2,500, or about $2,600 as of November 2014. That means that every family (consisting of two adults) can expect an unconditional yearly income of $62,400 without having to work, with no strings attached. While Switzerland’s cost of living is significantly higher than the US – a Big Mac there costs $6.72 – it’s certainly not chump change. It’s reasonable income that could provide, at the minimum, a comfortable bare bones existence.

*In Switzerland, nine out of ten full-time workers already earn more than the proposed minimum.

*Traditionally, wages in Switzerland have been negotiated by collective bargaining, with agreements covering pay, vacation days, and even retirement age. The median wage in the Swiss private sector was 6,118 francs (£4154.88) in 2013

Current Living Wage per hour: £43.50

Current Minium Wage per hour: £15

Bangladesh

The talk about improving the living wage for the workers of Bangladesh came after the Rana Plaza disaster of 2013. Even though this opened up a discussion very little has been done to improve the lives of the workers since the event. (Neupane, Arieff, and PassBlue, 2014)

Since 2013 the minimum wage per hour for a skilled cotton textile worker is £2.07. Its £2.06 per hour for a skilled jute textile worker and 2.91 for a skilled engineer (WageIndicator.org, 2015) This however is still almost half of what the living wage sits at.

Current Living Wage per hour: £4.79

Current Minium Wage per hour: £0.91

Hong Kong

Hong Kong didn't have a minimum wage until 2011, when it was set at £2.18 an hour. This however only affect 10% of the working population in Hong Kong as they had only made it compulsory for certain sectors. This leaves 300,000 domestic helpers without a minimum wage. (BBC, 2011) Since then there have been many disagreements over this as many small businesses say that they can’t pay even this much. (Siu, 2015) Even with the minimum wage being increased to £3.22 this is still half of the average living wage. This puts a lot of pressure onto public housing, CSSA and other conditional assistance as they have to supplement a lot of peoples wages to make sure that they can survive. (Siu, 2015)

Current Living Wage per hour: £6.94

Current Minium Wage per hour: £3.22

South Korea

In south Korea, they have had to bring in laws to stop workers working over 40 hours a week, making that the maximum by law. Most people still work over the 40 hour max, with the end of working day often reaching the late evening hours. According to numbers on Koliaf.net “53.5% of the total workforce (August 2011) work 5 days a week. Also, about 21.8% suffered from unlawfully long working hours, exceeding 52 hours per week last year”.

Current Living Wage per hour: £3.76

Current Minium Wage per hour: £3.19

Philippines

The table above shows the minimum wage per day which is equivilent to £6.18 per day.

Current Living Wage per hour: £1.19

Current Minium Wage per hour: £0.80

Mexico

In Mexico it's estimated that 6.5 million workers or 13% of the workforce earn the minimum wage according to the government statistics agency. In 2014 the mexican minimum wage commision was set to increase by 4.2% in line with the current inflation but actually rose by 3.9% which is the same as the rise between 2011-2012. More than 50% of the population in Mexico lived in poverty at the end 2012.

A worker that does make the minimum wage salary would need to labor for just over 37 days per month to bring in that monthly minimum and thats with assuming they don't have any dependents to care for.

According to a study of the 34 member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the gap between wages and hours worked is larger in Mexico than in any other member country. According to OECD figures, the country’s richest 10% earn more than 30 times what the poorest 10% make - making it the most unequal of the organization's 34 countries. Mexico’s bottom 20% doesn’tmake enough to eat three meals a day. The data collected from OECD studies show that Mexican workers labored 2,327 hours on average during 2014, far ahead of the 1,796 hours worked by Americans.

Current Living Wage per hour: £6.56

Current Minium Wage per hour: £2.80

Italy

There is no minimum wage amount in Italy by law; however employees' wages must be set according to the quality and quantity of the work they complete. It must also be set high enough to provide a minimum subsistence for the worker and his or her family to live off. Around half of the employees in the country are covered by a collective baragining agreement, where wages are always set.

An article from March 2015 states that Italy is planning to introduce a national minimum wage as part of its labour market overhaul; however the level of this is yet to be decided. The country is contemplating setting the hourly wage at €6.30 or €7.00.

It is stated that the wage would only apply to those working in sectors whose salaries are not already regulated by a "National Contract". Also the agreements would only cover 80 percent of workers, according to figures from the database of the Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts.

Current Living Wage per hour: £5

Current Minium Wage per hour: £3.50

UK - Reference

Gov.UK. 2015. Rates. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-living-wage-nlw/national-living-wage-nlw [Accessed: 15/11/2015].

Ukraine - Image Reference

AJDER, Corina. (n.d.) Wage Comparison. [online]. Available at: https://www.cleanclothes.org/livingwage/stitched-up-factsheets/stitched-up-ukraine-factsheet [Accessed: 15/11/2015].

India- Reference

What is a living wage? (no date) Available at: http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/jobs/item/1172-what-is-a-living-wage (Accessed: 15 October 2015).

Switzerland- Reference

Bosley, C. (2014) Swiss Reject World’s Highest Minimum Wage of $25 Per Hour. Available at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-18/swiss-reject-world-s-highest-minimum-wage-srf-projection-shows (Accessed: 17 October 2015).

What Could Go Wrong? Switzerland Prepares A ‘living Wage’ Of $2,600 For Every Citizen; Meaning Every Swiss Family Can Expect An Unconditional Yearly Income Of $62,400 Without Having To Work, With No Strings Attached. (2014) Available at: http://investmentwatchblog.com/what-could-go-wrong-switzerland-prepares-a-living-wage-of-2600-for-every-citizen-meaning-every-swiss-family-can-expect-an-unconditional-yearly-income-of-62400-without-having-to-work-with-no/ (Accessed: 17 October 2015).

Bangladesh- Reference

Neupane, S., Arieff, I. and PassBlue (2014) Solving Bangladesh’s ‘Living Wages’ Problem Demands Global Support. Available at: http://passblue.com/2014/03/18/solving-bangladeshs-living-wages-problem-demands-global-support/ (Accessed: 17 October 2015).

WageIndicator.org (2015) Available at: http://www.wageindicator.org/main/salary/minimum-wage/bangladesh (Accessed: 16 October 2015).

Hong Kong- Reference

BBC (2011) Hong Kong workers to enjoy minimum wage for first time. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13248027 (Accessed: 16 October 2015).

Siu, P. (2015) No one happy as Hong Kong minimum wage raised to HK$32.5 today. Available at: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1782670/no-one-happy-hong-kong-minimum-wage-raised-hk325-today (Accessed: 16 October 2015).

South Korea- Reference

Landed, J. (2009) Working in South Korea. Available at: https://www.justlanded.com/english/South-Korea/South-Korea-Guide/Jobs/Working-in-South-Korea (Accessed: 17 October 2015).

Italy- Reference

Indicator, W. (2015) WageIndicator.org. Available at: http://www.wageindicator.org/main/salary/minimum-wage/italy (Accessed: 18 October 2015).

Local, T. and news (2015) Italy plans national minimum wage. Available at: http://www.thelocal.it/jobs/article/italy-plans-national-minimum-wage (Accessed: 18 October 2015).

Mexico- Reference

WOODY, Christopher. 2015 ‘Mexico’s wage crisis is so bad “that it violates what’s stipulated in the constitution”.’ Business Insider [online]. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/mexicans-get-paid-less-for-their-work-than-any-other-developed-country-2015-7?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 29 October 2015].

HARRUP, Anthony. 2014. ‘Mexico raises minimum wage for 2015 by 4.2%, in line with inflation’. 20 December [online].Available at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/mexico-raises-minimum-wage-for-2015-by-4-2-in-line-with-inflation-1419049866 [Accessed 29 October 2015].

Phillippines- Reference

Official Website of national wages and productivity commission. n.d. [online]. Available at: http://www.nwpc.dole.gov.ph/pages/ncr/cmwr.html [Accessed 29 October 2015].