Search

The existence of a low wage sector is nothing new, nor are efforts to resist the conditions experienced by people whose incomes typically fall below the poverty line. In recent decades, under the rubric of neoliberalism structural and political factors in many western states have combined to expand the low wage sector. In policy terms this is represented by intensified efforts toflexibilize the labour market and to impose conditionality for the receipt of social benefits. Various social and political forces have pushed for policies to address issues of low wages and poverty. The paper recognizes the intersection of social and labour market policies but focuses on the latter. It opens with an historical overview of efforts to address low wages that touches on sectoral councils in the U.K, and the Awards system in Australia. It then moves on to analyze contemporary minimum wage policy and campaigns for a living wage. We then turn to the discourses/argumentation associated with these initiatives, and those employed by opposition to them. Our goal is to understand and evaluate the arguments advanced but move beyond discourse to identify the conditions in which particular means of addressing low wages can succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Con datos de encuestas CHIP y RUMCI de 1995 a 2008, se analiza cómo afecta el problema de la baja remuneración a los trabajadores de la China urbana, locales y migrantes. La tasa de baja remuneración (inferior a dos tercios del salario horario mediano) es elevada, se mantuvo relativamente estable para los locales entre 1995 y 2008 y disminuyó para los migrantes entre 2002 y 2007, aunque siguió siendo comparativamente muy superior. Tras investigar los determinantes del problema y sus consecuencias en el bienestar, los autores abogan por subvenciones a la formación, reforzar el cumplimiento del salario mínimo y promover la negociación salarial en las empresas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rather than just sitting and wringing our hands over the effects of widening income inequality, what if anything can governments and individuals actually do about it? Using data and examples from the United Kingdom, the author describes how restricting high pay inflation, increasing low pay and even pay redistribution are all possible strategies to help resolve this damaging social and economic phenomenon.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]