The Labour Rights Index evaluates countries along ten indicators - fair wages, decent work hours, employment security, family responsibilities, maternity at work, safe work, social security, fair treatment, child and forced labour, and trade unions. These indicators (and 46 sub-indicators) are derived from the Decent Work Agenda of the United Nations. Based on their scores, countries are graded on a six-point scale ranging from a “Total Lack of Decent Work” to “Decent Work”.
The Index provides a comprehensive perspective of working norms, making it a useful benchmarking tool in policy debates, both at national and international level. Legislators can also use these findings to identify relevant challenges and best practices.
Especially at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of remote work, the great resignation, and other phenomena have transformed the workplace, access to and knowledge of labour rights is more important than ever. By making their legal and minimum wage rights accessible, the Labour Rights Index empowers workers around the world to make informed decisions. The use of the Index is recommended for employees, employers, international organisations, national governments, as well as national labour market institutions and civil society organisations.
Key Data and Insights from the Labour Rights Index 2022
With drastic changes to the world of work over the last two years, the Labour Rights Index has recorded significant developments in labour law. The most common reforms have been in the realm of equal access to jobs, paternity leaves and prohibition of pregnancy inquiry. These reforms also covered equal pay for equal work of equal value, arduous work in pregnancy, and stipulation of statutory minimum wages. Altogether, these indicate that working conditions and remuneration for women have improved in the last two years.
Overall, 15 countries have seen their overall ratings improve, while 6 have seen them worsen. Burundi, Vietnam, Greece, Malawi and the Philippines have shown the most improvement in their scores relative to the 2020 index. Conversely, Botswana, Israel, Singapore, Egypt and Guatemala have exhibited the highest decreases in their score.
The Labour Rights Index 2022 has found rights relating to freedom of association, family responsibility, and employment security to be the most violated. Meanwhile, rights relating to child and forced labour, safe work, and decent working hours have been the most complied with.
Minimum wages, whether statutory or negotiated, are in place in over 90% of the countries studied. Three countries have no provision for minimum wages, while 7 - mostly from the Middle East or North Africa - stipulate these either for national or public sector workers only. Qatar recently announced a minimum wage that applies to all workers across sectors, not discriminating between local or migrant workers. It is the first country in the Gulf region to do so.
58 of the 135 countries provided for a statutory right to paid paternity leave of at least 7 days. 36 provided 1-4 days of paid leave, while a few had provisions for unpaid leave. Importantly, countries in the MENA region and Sub-Saharan Africa, including the UAE and Malawi, have enacted legislation providing for paid paternity leave. They hold the potential to become trendsetters in their areas.
Legislation in nearly half of the assessed countries limited women’s access to the same jobs as men, generally on the pretext of protection. Prohibitions to night work, the creation of extensive lists of jobs considered “hazardous” for women, and restrictions on employment in certain factories and the mining, construction and transportation sectors all contribute to this. Women’s access to work is also often restricted by requirements that they take a pregnancy test. In over 62 countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Iran and Ghana, this practice is allowed, despite prohibition by international regulatory standards (C183).
The gender pay gap continues to impact women in the workplace. Globally, it stands on average at 23%; i.e., women earn 77% of what men do for each hour worked. It is even wider for mothers, women of colour, immigrant women, and disabled women. Effective legislation is a key step in countering this, and four more countries - Bahrain, Burundi, Mongolia, and the UAE - now mandate equal pay for equal work of equal value.
About the Labour Rights Index
The Labour Rights Index is one of the flagship products of the WageIndicator Foundation, a Dutch non-profit organisation founded in 2003 ('Stichting Loonwijzer' in Dutch) and the Centre for Labour Research (Pakistan) which is the global labour law office of the WageIndicator Foundation.
WageIndicator Foundation is a worldwide organisation, now active in 206 countries. It aims to enhance labour market transparency for the benefit of employees, trade unions and employers by collecting, sharing and comparing information on minimum wages, living wages, international comparable labour law, the gig economy, collective agreements and careers. Mapping national labour markets is crucial, especially in countries where information is not easily accessible to workers.
The Labour Rights Index is a work in progress. New editions will be launched periodically with enhanced scopes, both in terms of countries covered and indicators used to gauge working conditions. These will include, for example, the provision of daycare/childcare centres at the workplace, fair treatment of part-time workers equivalent to comparable full-time workers, and the regulation of remote work.
For more information on the Labour Rights Index, please visit labourrightsindex.org or contact WageIndicator via office@wageindicator.org.