Do Minimum Wages & Living Wages affect Industrial Relations in Asian Countries?

Abstract

ILO Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) states that minimum wage setting should involve social partners and independent experts and take into consideration: (i) the needs of workers and their families, taking into account the general level of wages in the country, the cost of living, social security benefits and the relative living standards of other social groups; and (ii) economic factors, including the requirements of economic development, levels of productivity and the desirability of attaining and maintaining a high level of employment. Minimum wages should also be regularly adjusted to take account for fluctuations in the cost of living and other economic conditions.

We proposed the method to calculate the living wage for the large number of countries and at the regional level. The calculation is sensitive to country characteristics (e.g. food consumption, price variations, family composition, labor market conditions). Living wage could serve as an indicator of economic adequacy and a practical basis to set minimum wages.