Photo credit: Russell Watkins/UK Department for International Development

The GLWC and The Anker Research Institute are pleased to share new Living Wage Update reports for rural Costa Rica, Limón and Heredia provinces, and the rural southern coastal region of Ecuador, as well as a 2021 Living Wage Reference Value for typical rural areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Anker Reference Values for living wages and living incomes are based on a methodology developed by Richard and Martha Anker and Ian Prates, using a regression analysis of the 40 quality-assured Anker methodology living wage and income benchmark studies that have been carried out so far.

The Living Wage Update reports for Costa Rica and Ecuador have been updated to the study months of 2021, May and June respectively, in order to account for inflation, exchange rates, costs of living, and policy changes since the original reporting in these countries.

Read more about Anker Reference Values.

Read the reports:

• Living Income Reference Value for Rural Democratic Republic of Congo
• Living Wage Update for Costa Rica
• Living Wage Update for Ecuador

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

Anker Research Institute study shows that the wage needed to support Nicaraguan migrant workers and their families left behind in Nicaragua at a decent standard of living is similar to the wage needed by local Costa Rican workers.

Read the full study

One key consideration when measuring living wages is the fact that living costs can vary widely depending on where someone lives. The Anker Methodology for estimating living wages and living incomes has helped move the conversation on living wages forward by estimating location-specific living wage benchmarks for different cities, regions, and countries. But what is the appropriate living wage for someone who migrates from a very low-cost region or country to work in a much higher-cost area and sends part of their earnings back home?

In many places in the world, migrants are paid less than locals for equivalent work. Employers often feel that it is acceptable to violate the fundamental principle of equal pay for equal work for migrants because of the lower living costs in their home region or country.

New research from the Anker Research Institute debunks this theory, showing that the appropriate living wage is similar for migrant and local workers in the case of Nicaraguan migrants to Costa Rica (where living costs are 2.5 times higher). The authors of this report (Koen Voorend, Richard Anker and Martha Anker) find several reasons for this unexpected result. For one, migrants incur costs that are unique to being a migrant worker, such as fees and costs for travel, remittances, and communications. Migrants also have to pay for housing in two locations. In addition, the migrant’s spouse or partner left behind in Nicaragua has a much more limited earning capacity to support the family financially compared to a local Costa Rica resident’s spouse or partner.

This report’s findings reinforce with empirical evidence the need to respect the bedrock principle of equal pay for work of equal value.

Wilbert Flinterman, Senior Advisor for Workers’ Rights and Trade Union Relations at Fairtrade International explained what this research will mean for living wage advocacy and implementation work: “This analysis is important, because it helps to counter discrimination of migrant workers by strengthening the argument that their origins should have no bearing on their wages. Fairtrade will apply these findings in promoting Living Wages for workers around the world.”

Rochelle Zaid, Senior Director of Standards & Impacts at Social Accountability International responded as well: “The argument that migrant workers do not need as much payment as local workers is still one we hear frequently. This research is an important step toward countering that way of thinking. It gives us more concrete evidence that the principle of equality for all workers, including migrants, that we already require in our standard is the right approach and helps us justify that approach against challenges.”

Read the full study

Introducing the Anker Research Institute Working Papers series

This study on living wages and living costs for Nicaraguan migrant workers in Costs Rica marks the launch of the Anker Research Institute’s new Working Paper Series, which will investigate issues related to achieving a decent standard of living for all working people and their families worldwide.

The Global Living Wage Coalition and Anker Research Institute have worked for years to build a research base to help increase wages and incomes towards living wages and living incomes worldwide and to enable deeper conversation around living wages and incomes, poverty, livelihoods, and a decent standard of living for all. This first working paper was made possible by the existence of locally specific, but internationally comparable Anker living wage studies for rural Nicaragua and rural Costa Rica.

With over 40 Living Wage and Income Benchmark studies and 25 Reference Value studies completed, the Anker Research Institute will continue to produce working papers, based in part on this rich and growing library of information, to explore topics like pay equity, migrant wages, gender pay gaps, poverty, and many other issues.

The post Introducing: Migrant wages research, new Working Paper series appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

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Next Steps in Sustainability-Measuring Impact and Testing Living Wage

Project Summary

Bananas as a commodity have a tumultuous history, particularly when it comes to labour practices and environmental degradation. While there have been many improvements over the last few decades, trade unions and NGOs continue to report concerns, including that low wages on plantations are insufficient for workers and their families to achieve a decent standard of living. While the wage situation is not unique to the banana sector, nor to Costa Rica and Belize, project partners nonetheless recognize the importance of decent wages to the health of communities and banana supply chains. For this reason, Fyffes, IDH The Sustainable Trade Initiative, other private entities, and the Rainforest Alliance have come together to finance and support the living wage estimates for Costa Rica and Belize, understand the gaps between living wages and current wages, and work with participating farms to develop monitoring tools and pilot strategies and plans for improving worker compensation.

Together with the Global Living Wage Coalition, and with critical input from banana sector representatives, including CORBANA, plantations, and worker organisations, we are working to finalize two living wage benchmarks – one each for Costa Rica and Belize. The benchmarks will cover regions of each country respectively where the majority of banana production is found. It is our intention that these benchmarks will serve as useful tools for workers and plantation managers/owners alike, and facilitate dialog on wages and shared value in the banana sector and beyond. The validation event for the Costa Rica benchmark was held in September 2017 and the final version of the study will be released by summer of 2018. The Belize living wage benchmark study is currently underway.

Eight pilot farms – four in each country – have volunteered to work with the project partners to better understand how their wages compare to living wage benchmarks, and together address wage gaps if and where they exist. Discussions between farms and project partners have already gone a long way toward helping all sides understand the complexity of compensation models, and helping stakeholders develop better tools for facilitating dialog on shared value. These farms are also providing critical feedback to the Rainforest Alliance ,which will help with learning and adaptive management on living wage criteria, training, and guidance within its certification system, landscape-level programmes, and advocacy work. The Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard has included living wage in its sustainability standard since 2017.

Project Partners

The project, which initiated in 2016 with co-funding and support from IDH, Fyffes, and other private entities, is being implemented by the Rainforest Alliance – a leading member of the Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC). The GLWC is also a key project partner and is carrying out the living wage estimates for both countries.  Other important content contributors and partners include the World Banana Forum, banana plantations, workers, unions, and industry representatives.

Project Goal and Objectives

The overall goal of this project is to improve conditions for workers through supply-chain efforts in Costa Rica and Belize, while also contributing to dialog and progress on living wages and shared value globally.

This project is founded on the partners’ dedication to improved, more sustainable farming practices and the quantification of a decent standard of living for workers through the living wage benchmark. It builds on and works with ongoing global initiatives as well as efforts by individual donors and governments. It contributes to global dialog and learning on living wage, as well as practical application of living wages across companies and sectors in Costa Rica and Belize. As standard systems adopt or increase focus on living wages, many different sectors are interested in understanding what this looks like for their key geographic areas. The activities outlined below will provide much needed insight.

The lessons learned from this project are intended to benefit the banana sector as well as other sectors in Belize, Costa Rica, and elsewhere. For example, results will be shared within the World Banana Forum to help identify solutions to overcome structural limitations in banana value chains, such as the low prices of bananas and potential gains from more efficient use of labour. In addition, the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard has included living wage criteria for just under one year at the time of this post, and as such now is the right moment to gain practical experience and harness learning from application of living wage benchmarks.

This project has several objectives:

• Assess the environmental, socio-economic, and sustainability impacts of Rainforest Alliance certification, including on standards of living for workers;
• Estimate costs of living and living wages for families covered by the geographic scope of the living wage benchmark studies;
• Gain practical experience in and share learning about the application of objective living wage measures and criteria;
• Raise awareness of and facilitate dialog across stakeholder groups on living wages and shared value within countries, supply chains, and the banana sector; and
• Improve the standards of living for workers on banana plantations.

Project Progress/Results

This project is currently underway with the following activities in progress:

• The project kick-off workshop and living wage estimate validation event for the Costa Rica benchmark was held in September 2017.
• A baseline assessment of social and environmental practices (including wages) on Rainforest Alliance Certified^TM banana plantations was completed in May 2018.
• Working sessions on living wages were held with two Rainforest Alliance Certified^TM plantations in Costa Rica in April 2018. The meetings revealed that on these plantations, more than 50% of workers, across several different job categories, likely earn a living wage or higher, with remaining workers experiencing a gap of 10-12%. While these two are leading, socially-minded farms and therefore do not necessarily represent the majority, they provided useful insight into the opportunities and limitations for banana plantations to independently improve worker compensation. These lessons are extremely useful to further dialog with the wider banana sector on sustainability and shared value. The meetings also helped the Rainforest Alliance to further design templates for wage monitoring that can also support farm self-assessment and implementation initiatives.
• The Belize kick-off workshop was held in May 2018.
• The living wage benchmark study and, separately, Belize baseline study, are currently underway.
• Sharing of lessons learned is ongoing, including within the World Banana Forum and the IDH Sustainable Initiative Fruit And Vegetables (SIFAV)

Additional results expected before the end of 2019 include:

• The final version of the Costa Rica living wage benchmark study will be released by summer of 2018.
• Working sessions with two additional banana plantations in Costa Rica will be held in summer of 2018.
• The validation event for the Belize living wage benchmark study is expected in summer of 2018.
• The final Belize living wage benchmark study is expected for release before the end of 2018.
• Presentation and discussions with pineapple producers and supply chains expected in 2018.
• Working sessions with farms in Belize will begin by early 2019.
• Impact studies will be completed for Costa Rica and Belize by the end of 2019.

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