Since the end of 2020 we offer minimum wages for 196 countries. We launched a worldwide corona-survey in March 2020. By the end of the year it was online in 110 countries and generated a steady stream of micro-data. Also, we charted gig-workers in corona-times, in 6 countries on 5 continents. The compilation of a Labour Rights Index continued unabated, and came to encompass 115 countries.
Maps and graphs make WageIndicator websites more attractive. Search Engine Optimization increased traffic on mobile and we made our websites faster, mobile-fit. The Wages in Context-map offers the most comprehensive overview of all wage-related data. The range of wages presented per country covers the whole array, from statutory minimum wages, through living wages for individual, standard and typical families, to the actual wages for the low-, medium- and high-skilled.
2020 saw a growing interest from multinational companies in living wages, and new contracts were concluded.
The Decent Work Check, with 13 work-related aspects, serves as the basis of a compliance form to assess working conditions in the light of pertaining law.
By the end of 2020 the CBA-database contained almost 1600 CBAs from 61 countries, up by 30% compared to 2019.
The corona pandemic gave the WageIndicator team a head start because of its online cooperation practice, and output jumped up. This fostered the ranks and the hope that also in 2021 WageIndicator will weather the storm.
Cooperation with FLAME University, Pune, was continued successfully. The summer lectures could be given online. Since much of the work of the students and interns could be and must be done online anyhow, their contributions to the WageIndicator infrastructure (databases and websites) were considerable.
In 2020 traffic totalled 33 million. The number of national websites stood at 179 by the end of the year. For 196 countries minimum wages are already in place. Also more than 120 videos were created, promoting various projects. Videos are produced in several languages. In addition several webinars were organized on a variety of topics. The list of publications based on our data continued to grow, as well as research papers.
A few new subsidized projects came in, while some were rounded off. New projects started in Bangladesh, in garment, leather, teas and construction. The gig-research took off in The Netherlands, India, Argentina, South Africa, Spain and the UK. And corona surveys at factory level were done in Ethiopia, Indonesia and Uganda.
Nothing much changed in the internal organization, use of management tools and composition of the international team, as compared to the previous year.
As compared to 2019, total realized income increased (63%) to € 1,070,000. This increase was realized through income generating activities (up 47%) from € 182,000 in 2019 to € 267,000 and the result of new projects up to € 530,000. Together with the continuing pre-2020 projects this amounted to a grant total of € 803,000, compared to € 474,000 in 2019 (69% plus). Banner income in 2020 was slightly higher (14%).