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ILO / GLOBAL WAGE REPORT
STORY: ILO / GLOBAL WAGE REPORT
TRT: 2.02
SOURCE: ILO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / PORTUGUESE / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: RECENT / FILE
FILE - DATE UNKNOWN, ATHENS, GREECE / BARCELONA, SPAIN / FREIBURG, GERMANY / MANILA, PHILIPPINES / MADRID, SPAIN
1. Various shots, street views
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick Belser, Senior Economist and Lead Author of the ILO Global Wage Report 2012-13:
"We would expect wages to rise with productivity but we’ve looked at a number of countries over the last 20 to 30 years and … we found that there is sort of a broken link between wages and productivity and the result of that is that the labour income share in GDP is going down, which essentially means that workers are getting a smaller share of the pie."
RECENT, LISBON, PORTUGAL
3. Wide shot, Joao Carlos Cruz walking on street
4. Med shot, Joao Carlos Cruz with his family
5. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joao Carlos Cruz, Bank Employee:
"Back then (ten years ago) I managed to save some money, which I can’t do today."
FILE - DATE UNKNOWN, ATHENS, GREECE / BARCELONA, SPAIN / FREIBURG, GERMANY / MANILA, PHILIPPINES / MADRID, SPAIN
6. Various shots, street views
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick Belser, Senior Economist and Lead Author of the ILO Global Wage Report 2012-13:
"What we see here is that a growing part of the earnings of companies are going into dividends and a smaller part is left for increasing wages."
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
4. Various shots, Cartier chocolate showroom
5. SOUNDBITE (French) Marc-Andre Cartier, Owner, Cartier Chocolates, Switzerland:
"We were able to make a slight increase in our staff’s wages, around three to five per cent, in order to motivate them and above all to keep them with us. For us, that’s important. We’ve been here a long time and the most important thing is loyalty, to keep our people with us."
FILE - DATE UNKNOWN, BRASILIA, BRASIL
3. Various shots, tool factory
Productivity is growing worldwide but wages are not keeping pace. That’s one of the conclusions of the new Global Wage Report released by the International Labour Organization today (7 December).
The new report also confirms a continuing trend: employees in developing and emerging economies are earning more than they were before the global economic crisis began, while workers in richer, developed countries are seeing their pay stagnate or even decline.
SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick Belser, Senior Economist and Lead Author of the ILO Global Wage Report 2012-13:
"We would expect wages to rise with productivity but we’ve looked at a number of countries over the last 20 to 30 years and … we found that there is sort of a broken link between wages and productivity and the result of that is that the labour income share in GDP is going down, which essentially means that workers are getting a smaller share of the pie."
Joao Carlos Cruz works in a bank in Portugal. He says he’s worse off financially than he was ten years ago.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joao Carlos Cruz, Bank Employee:
"Back then (ten years ago) I managed to save some money, which I can’t do today."
It’s an on-going trend, aggravated by trade globalization, technological progress, declining trade union membership and what experts call the “financialization” of the real economy.
The Global Wage Report's lead author says this is bascially the growing influence of the financial markets on investments and on the behaviors of companies.
SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick Belser, Senior Economist and Lead Author of the ILO Global Wage Report 2012-13:
"What we see here is that a growing part of the earnings of companies are going into dividends and a smaller part is left for increasing wages."
Marc-Andre Cartier’s company has produced chocolates in Geneva for 150 years. The recession’s been hard on business but he prefers to take a long-term approach with his employees for the sake of their future and the company.
SOUNDBITE (French) Marc-Andre Cartier, Owner, Cartier Chocolates, Switzerland:
"We’ve were able to make a slight increase in our staff’s wages, around three to five per cent, in order to motivate them and above all to keep them with us. For us, that’s important. We’ve been here a long time and the most important thing is loyalty, to keep our people with us."
The report points to huge differences between countries and regions, with wages generally growing faster in areas where economic growth is stronger.
While wage growth suffered a double-dip in developed economies – where it is forecast at zero per cent in 2012 – it remained positive throughout the crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Africa, and even more so in Asia.
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