Penny-pinching, not China, to blame for flat wage growth: ILO

Stagnant wage growth in rich countries is a result of corporate penny-pinching and not competition from cheap Chinese labour, the International Labour Organisation said yesterday.

Average wages in developed countries have grown only 0.4 per cent since 2009 despite a 5.3 per cent increase in workers' productivity, the ILO said in its latest Global Wage Report.

Globally, wages are slowly converging as poor countries close the gap with rich countries. Wage growth in developed economies was 0.1 per cent in 2012 and 0.2 per cent in 2013, while developing economies saw increases of 6.7 per cent and 5.9 per cent, respectively.

But it is not cheap labour competition that is causing wages to stagnate in more advanced economies, said Sandra Polaski, the ILO's deputy director for policy.

"If productivity levels are increasing you can accommodate the competition because the productivity of your firm will allow you to continue to pay good wages and still be able to compete," she said.

Profits have recovered since the global financial crisis but that income was not being reinvested at the rate that was seen previously, Polaski said.