InFocus Programme on Promoting the Declaration on Fundamental Principles WORK IN FREEDOM and Rights at Work International Labour Office
Pay equity, minimum wage and equality at work
Jill Rubery
DECLARATION/WP/19/2003 Working Paper Working WP.19
Working Paper
Pay equity, minimum wage and equality at work: theoretical framework and empirical evidence
by
Jill Rubery Manchester School of Management UMIST
International Labour Office
November 2003
Foreword
In June 1998 the International Labour Conference adopted the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up. The Declaration obligates all member States of the International Labour Organization to respect, promote and realize freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labour, and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation1. The InFocus Programme on Promoting the Declaration is responsible for the reporting processes and technical cooperation activities associated with the Declaration Follow-up; and it carries out awareness raising, advocacy and knowledge functions – of which this Working Paper is an example. Working Papers are intended to stimulate discussion of the issues covered by the Declaration. They express the views of the author, which are not necessarily those of the ILO.
Professor Jill Rubery was commissioned by the ILO to write this Working Paper, as an input for the preparation of the 2003 Global Report on the elimination of discrimination in the world of work2. The establishment of a floor to the wage structure is of paramount importance to groups of workers discriminated on grounds such as sex, ethnicity, national origin, age and disability, as these groups are disproportionately represented at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy. By identifying the role that minimum wages can play in reducing gender discrimination in pay, Jill Rubery’s paper contributes to our understanding of the forms of labour market processes compatible with the promotion of non-discrimination, equality and decent work.
The paper reviews the underlying causes of pay discrimination embedded within the organisation of the labour market and structures of pay and reward. It compares minimum wage policies to more targeted equal pay policies as a tool to reduce the gender pay gap. It explores attitudes towards minimum wages among the major actors in order to identify potential obstacles to or support for such policies. It reviews experiences with the use of a minimum wage instrument in specific countries, identifies gaps in knowledge and the need for both new approaches to research and policy monitoring.
1 For the text of the Declaration, please visit our website at: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/ standards/decl/declaration/text/index.htm. 2 ILO, Time for Equality at Work (Geneva, ILO, 2003).
iii WP. 19-Pay equity, minimum wage and equality at work
Dr Jill Rubery is Professor of Comparative Employment Systems at the Manchester School of Management, UMIST and Director of the European Work and Employment Research Centre (EWERC). She is a specialist of long-standing experience in the field of equal opportunities and women's employment. Her research has covered equal pay, atypical employment, working time, gender segregation, welfare state systems, gender mainstreaming and the economics of equal opportunities. The ILO is grateful to her for this timely contribution to a renewed interest in labour market institutions and equality, and for providing a background study for the 2003 Global Report. This exercise was conceptualized and overseen by Manuela Tomei, the ILO official responsible for that report, and her team-members Janine Rodgers, Mara Steccazzini and Tzehainesh Teklè.
Zafar Shaheed Director, Global Reports and Advocacy, InFocus Programme on Promoting the Declaration November 2003
iv WP. 19-Pay equity, minimum wage and equality at work
Table of contents
Foreword...... iii
Introduction...... 1
1. Unequal remuneration: the embeddedness of discrimination ...... 2
1.1 Explanations of gender pay inequality...... 5
1.2. Inter-linkages between gender pay inequity and other forms of pay inequality and discrimination...... 13
2. Equal remuneration and other equal opportunity policies: towards greater and sustainable equality ...... 17
3. The merits and demerits of equal pay and minimum wage policies...... 19
3.1. Merits and demerits of equal pay and minimum wage policies compared...... 19
3.2 What are the trade-offs of implementing a minimum wage policy? ...... 26
4. Attitudes towards minimum wage measures...... 38
5. Impact of minimum wage policies: experience in different countries...... 42
5.1 Factors influencing promotion of wage equality...... 43
6. Current gaps in knowledge and issues warranting further attention ...... 59
List Working Papers of the InFocus Programme on Promoting the Declaration...... 73
v WP. 19-Pay equity, minimum wage and equality at work
Introduction
Discrimination takes many forms and has multiple outcomes. One of the most evident outcomes is to reduce the rewards for effort and skill paid in the form of wages to those groups who are discriminated in the labour market. This form of discrimination has been found to affect women in all countries, although to varying extents. Reduction of the gender pay gap has been identified as a major objective of anti-discrimination and pro equal opportunities campaigns. It is an essential element of the ILO’s programme to reduce discrimination, in line with the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work – namely freedom to organize and negotiate conditions of work, freedom from forced or compulsory labour, freedom to protect children from requirements to work and freedom from discrimination in employment and occupation. This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the forms of labour market organisation which may be compatible with the promotion of non-discrimination and decent work by identifying the role that minimum wages can play in reducing gender pay discrimination in particular and discrimination in the labour market more generally.
Two hypotheses underlie this study: