Wage Policy Issues In Economic Development

Offering evidence from both detailed individual country studies and homogenized statistics across the Latin American and Caribbean region, this book examines the impact of the minimum wage on wages, employment, poverty, income distribution and government budgets in the context of a large informal sector and predominantly unskilled workforces.

Oren M. Levin-Waldman studies the role that living wage campaigns may have had in recent years in altering the political landscape in four cities where they have been adopted: Los Angeles, Detroit, Baltimore, and New Orleans.

This book is a microcosm of issues of minimum wage determination in developing countries examined in the context of Papua New Guinea (PNG). With provision of parallels, it discusses the critical issues, process, and actors involved in determination of minimum wage. Like most governments in developing countries obsessed with economic development, the critical issue for the PNG government has been to ensure that wage levels and the wage structure harmonise as far as possible with the national development aspirations and on the other hand, social objectives are maintained through the prevention of exploitation of workers. Although, the twin issues of economic efficiency and social equity have not been easily compatible, this book's testimony of experiences in accommodating the issues has been the most challenging for PNG. The challenges faced and lessons learnt in determining and regulating minimum wage would reflect similar experiences for many developing countries.