Information from India, provided by the ILO, shows that economic growth from 2008 to 2011 was over 7%. However real wages rose by about 1.6%.
This suggests that the fruits of productivity growth are not being shared with the workers.
This is unfortunately too typical. Over the last decade, the only part of the world in which wage differentials between the lowest and highest paid have reduced is Latin America. Elsewhere, in West and East, those differentials have increased … and this is in countries which are supposed to have left-wing governments just as much as those which have, allegedly, right wing governments.
This seems inherently unfair … and is surely a recipe for social unrest. The WCPS is committed to both creating – and sharing – the wealth that accrues from increased productivity, believing that this is a necessary underpinning of world peace. It seems that not enough people agree with us … or are willing to act!
This is something to ponder as you sit down to your Christmas lunch.