I believe that after so many years, also thanks to the work of the Anker Research Institute, the global banana industry has all the tools and mechanisms it needs to bring about Living Wages for all in the banana sector.”

Wilbert Flinterman, Fairtrade International

Read the full blog post from Wilbert on the Anker Research Institute website →

The post Living Wages for banana workers: when will workers see the difference? appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

The Anker Research Institute has also released a new report for the rural Cibao Norte (Northern) Region of the Dominican Republic. The report includes living wage and living income estimates for 2022 for workers in the region, with a focus on banana-exporting regions. The new report is available in English and Spanish and the 2023 update report for the Northern region has updated the values in the new report to 2023.

All of the updated studies have been updated to account for changes in inflation, exchange rates, costs of living, and policy changes since the original reporting. The reports estimate the wages a worker in these regions would need to receive each month to afford a basic but decent standard of living.

Read the reports

Benchmark Updates

Living Wage Update 2023: Belize

Living Wage Update 2023: Colombia

Living Wage Update 2023: Costa Rica

Living Wage Update 2023: Dominican Republic

Living Wage Update 2023: Ecuador

Living Wage Update 2023: Ghana

Living Wage Update 2023: Guatemala

Living Wage Update 2023: Michoacán, Mexico

Living Wage Update 2023: Northwest Nicaragua

Reference Value Updates

Living Wage Update 2023: Panama

Living Wage Update 2023: Peru

Living Income Update 2023: Cameroon

Living Wage Update 2023: Cameroon

Living Wage Update 2023: Côte d’Ivoire

The post New 2023 Benchmark & Reference Value Updates appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

Koen Voorend, lead researcher and co-author of the study, and Marcelo Delajara, senior researcher at the Anker Research Institute, led this meeting, presenting on relevant aspects of the Anker Methodology and providing a detailed explanation of the fieldwork carried out, the analysis of secondary data, and the results obtained.

The stakeholders that attended included representatives of producers and workers in the study area, mainly in the banana sector, and also academics, central bank regional economists, government officials, representatives of Fairtrade International, and of The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC), which organized the event. After an active discussion about various aspects of the study, all participants verified that the results are sound and comprehensive.

Fairtrade International, supporting the research, intends to use the benchmark as a basis for its Living Wage strategy application in the Dominican Republic, where it has certified most of the banana plantations. The strategy is about drawing additional value from the main business actors along banana supply chains that is then passed on to workers. Considering this principle of shared responsibility, the Institute plans to present the Living Wage report next to traders and retailers sourcing bananas from the Dominican Republic.

This is the first time a new Anker Living Wage Benchmark study has been carried out as a follow-up of a previous study (of 2013) in the same region (rural Cibao Norte). While the original 2013 study has been regularly updated for inflation to 2017, 2019 and 2022 by the Anker Research Institute, these updates do not capture the considerable economic development of the Dominican Republic since 2013. Therefore, inflation updates alone do not suffice to reflect the current, higher levels of decency expected by workers, which go up with economic development. The Anker Methodology foresees this need to periodically redo and re-estimate Benchmark living wages every 5-10 years, depending on how dynamic economic and social change has been.

Koen Voorend is an economist with a PhD in Development Economics from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, The Netherlands, and is currently the director of the Institute of Social Research (IIS) at the University of Costa Rica. As a member of the Anker Research Institute’s Global Network of Researchers, Koen has previously been involved in the estimation of Anker Living Wage Benchmarks for Belize, Costa Rica and Guatemala, and has studied the living wage of Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica. His co-authors on the Cibao Norte report are Daniel Alvarado, Richard Anker and Martha Anker.

Photos: Marcelo Delajara

The post Anker Research Institute presents Living Wage Benchmark for Rural Cibao Norte, Dominican Republic to stakeholders appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

Around the world, women earn around 20% less than men earn, on average. While gender differences in education, skills, occupations, and working time explain some of this gender pay gap, a large part is due to discrimination. This is not only a violation of women’s human rights; it negatively affects a nation’s prospects for economic growth and social development. Women are disproportionately likely to be in low-paid work, which also has implications for efforts to guarantee a living wage.

The size of the gender pay gap, and its cause, varies from one workplace to the next. However, most analysis of gender pay gaps occurs at the country level or for broad categories, such as ‘agriculture’ and ‘manufacturing’. There is little information available on the size and causes of gender pay gaps in specific workplaces and sectors, including those linked to global brands and retailers. This makes it difficult, especially for employers, to design appropriate measures to close the gaps – if indeed a gap exists.

The Anker Research Institute’s new methodology addresses this by allowing in-depth analysis of gender pay gaps at the workplace and sector level. We use detailed payroll data to determine the size and direct causes of the gap and explore the root causes through interviews with workers, managers, and other stakeholders. We also assess the gender gap to a living wage, the results of which are sometimes quite surprising!

Our study in Colombia’s banana sector, supported by FAO, Fairtrade International, and Fairtrade Germany, assessed gender pay gaps at two banana companies in different regions of Colombia. Depending on the company, the types of pay considered, and the type and occupations of workers, the gender pay gap ranges between 8% and 20%. Importantly, we found that higher wages do not necessarily translate into smaller gender pay gaps. The implication is that if efforts to ensure workers earn a living wage are not gender-aware, they could inadvertently exacerbate gender inequality.

In the report, we highlight steps being taken by industry and trade unions in the Colombian banana sector to improve the gender balance and recommend further actions to close gender pay gaps. This includes training women in field activities, tackling gender stereotypes, promoting active participation in worker organizations, and clarifying the requirements of certification standards.

In the coming months, we will report on our Gender Pay Gap studies in other countries and continue to look for ways to scale up the measurement of gender pay gaps in global supply chains.

You can find the full study, “Gender Pay Gaps in the Colombian Banana Export Sector” (in English and Spanish), linked below and a recording of the study for the World Banana Forum here.

For more information, contact Sally Smith, Anker Research Institute Gender Lead, at inquiries@ankerinstitute.org  

Read the report in English: Gender Pay Gaps in the Colombian Banana Export Sector

Read the report in Spanish: Brechas Salariales de Género en el Sector Bananero Exportador de Colombia

The post New: First of Its Kind Study Explores Gender Pay Gaps in the Colombia Banana Export Sector appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

The study assessed gender pay gaps at two banana companies in different regions of Colombia, one unionized, the other non-unionized. Depending on the company, the types of pay considered, and the type and occupations of workers, the gender pay gap ranges between 8% and 20%. Importantly, higher wages do not necessarily translate into smaller gender pay gaps. The gaps are mostly due to segregation of women into packing activities, as this prevents them from reaching the wage levels earned by men who work in the whole spectrum of activities on banana farms. Underlying this are a range of factors related not only to the context of each company but also to broader societal issues.

Watch the Presentation

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The post Gender Pay Gap Stakeholder Meeting Highlights Preliminary Study Results appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

These studies have been updated to account for changes in inflation, exchange rates, costs of living, and policy changes since the original reporting. The reports estimate the wages a worker in these regions would need to receive each month to afford a basic but decent standard of living.

Read the reports

Benchmark Updates

Living Wage Update 2022: Belize

Living Wage Update 2022: Colombia

Living Wage Update 2022: Costa Rica

Living Wage Update 2022: Dominican Republic

Living Wage Update 2022: Ecuador

Living Wage Update 2022: Ghana

Living Wage Update 2022: Guatemala

Living Wage Update 2022: Michoacán, Mexico

Living Wage Update 2022: Northwest Nicaragua

Reference Value Updates

Living Wage Update 2022: Panama

Living Wage Update 2022: Peru

Living Wage Update 2022: Cameroon

Living Wage Update 2022: Côte d’Ivoire

The post New Benchmark and Reference Value Updates! appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.