Wage Gap Widens as Wages Fail to Keep Pace with Productivity

Abstract

The economic crisis in 2008 was one of the harsher signs that economic globalization has gone hand in hand with increased volatility and turbulence. It caused the ranks of the unemployed to swell from 169 million in 2007 to 198.4 million in 2009, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).¹ Although the number temporarily dipped to 193.1 million in 2011, a preliminary estimate for 2012 indicated it was back up to 197.3 million.² And the number of workers in vulnerable employment globally was estimated at close to 1.54 billion in 2012—about 55 percent of total employment worldwide—up from 1.39 billion in 2000.³