Trends in Minimum Wage Laws and Implementation: Experiences of Selected Asian Countries (and the Case of India)

Abstract

• Many Asian countries are largest single contributor to global growth (60% as per ADB, 2017). In spite of such unparalleled growth, labour advocates are struggling to ensure protection of workers’ rights, including providing them with minimum wage
• Vast differences in the minimum wage policies and regulations, as well as implementation difficulties. Hence, in most of Asian countries, minimum wage systems have been a subject of debate and criticism owing to its complicated structure. The major reason for such complexities may be found in the foundation of minimum wage systems, i.e. minimum wage fixing procedure and criteria used.
• Large body of research on the trends in implementing minimum wage regulation in developing countries. The studies covered  few parameters - hence they’ve failed to provide a holistic solution. Few studies (Upadhyaya,2012; Ra,2014; Ford, 2017) have addressed the aforementioned issues in  Asian Countries. This gap in literature  has prompted our study.
• Comparative analysis of minimum wage laws and implementation mechanisms in Asian Countries under the WageIndicator project, i.e. including Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are covered.