Living wages

Over half of the global workforce are wage earners, making wages the primary income source for many households. However, millions of these workers earn wages too low to afford a decent standard of living. The ILO Global Wage Report 2024-25 estimates that in low-income countries, half of all wage workers earn less than about US$ 201 (PPP) a month.

In response to ongoing low pay, the number of living wage initiatives has risen sharply. Many multinational companies, both individually and through multistakeholder efforts, are committing to pay living wages within their operations and supply chains.

In this context, the ILO has reached an agreement on living wages during a Meeting of experts on wage policies, including living wages that took place in Geneva in February 2024. The conclusions adopted by this meeting of experts provide a joint understanding of the concept of a living wage, define the principles that the estimation of living wages should follow and states how the operationalization of living wages should take into account the ILO key principles of wage-setting. 

The conclusions also provide the ILO with a mandate to assist its constituents in estimating and operationalizing living wages within the broader wage-setting processes, as well as in engaging with living wage initiatives to promote alignment with ILO living wage principles. 

• What is a living wage?
• ILO wage setting principles
• ILO principles on estimating a living wage
• The operationalization of living wages

For more details on the ILO’s efforts on living wages, or to inquire about specific projects, please contact us at [email protected]. 

We look forward to hearing from you!