WageIndicator Foundation

Both pursuing a global approach and perspective, WageIndicator Foundation and the GLO collaborate to promote the collection of data in all countries and provide access to this data. The underlying aim is to ensure transparency and enable informed decisions for all actors on the labour market, the academic community, policy makers, employers and workers, as well as households and individuals.

Through WageIndicator, the GLO provides access to databases on Wages, Income and Prices (including the Minimum Wage database, the Salaries database & Salary Checks, and Cost of Living / Living Wage database) as well as on Labour Law and Collective Agreements (including the Labour Law Database and the Collective Agreements Database). In 2022, WageIndicator added the Labour Rights Index to its products. The index is updated every two years and launched on the World Decent Work Day on October 7th. It has also hosted a global Pension database since 2026.

WageIndicator Global Coverage

Data on Salaries, Cost of Living, Minimum Wages and Living Wages

  1. Minimum Wage database
    • Global and national teams collect all minimum wage rates
    • Up to date as gazetted, since 2010
    • Minimum wage regulations for 216 countries and territories
    • Information in English and national language
    • Access Minimum Wage Database Worldwide
    • Access to data: office (at) wageindicator.org
  2. Salaries database & Salary Checks
    • Mini-survey in Salary Check & opt-in survey on work and wages
    • Surveys posted on the national WageIndicator websites, since 2006
    • 450,000 observations per year
    • Offline data collection using survey apps such as KoboToolbox
    • Salary check in 75 countries
    • Access Salary Checks Worldwide
    • Access Salary Surveys Worldwide
    • Access to data: office (at) wageindicator.org
  3. Living Wage database
    • Cost-of-living survey asking for prices and family expenses, since 2014
    • Hybrid data collection through mostly offline face-to-face data collectors, complemented by online collection of data in countries where this is possible. 
    • Quarterly updates of Living Wage estimates for Standard and Typical families, as well as Single-Income Earner households. As of 2026, WageIndicator has quarterly estimates for 190 countries and all regions within. 
    • Access Living Wage Database Worldwide
    • Access to data at the regional and city level; office (at) wageindicator.org

Data on Labour Law and Collective Agreements

  1. Labour Law Database
    • WageIndicator collects data on 50 labour law topics
    • Yearly update, always links to national law, since 2008
    • Text in English and national language
    • Checks and priorities of workers can be assessed on the basis of the national law and minimum wages databases through Decent Work Checks and Worker Priority Surveys
    • Since 2026, the Labour Law database has data for 145 countries
    • Access Labour Laws Worldwide
    • Access to data: office (at) wageindicator.org
  2. Collective Agreements (CBA) Database
    • WageIndicator has collected collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) since 2013
    • Text is coded according to more than 1.000 variables
    • Full text and codes are presented on the national WageIndicator websites
    • Clauses are comparable; the best sample CBA’s can be generated from the database
    • The database houses thousands of CBAs from 75 countries. 
    • Access Collective Agreements
    • Access to data: office (at) wageindicator.org

About WageIndicator

WageIndicator envisions more equal, inclusive and decent labour markets that work for all: a world where everyone has access to clear, reliable, and context-specific labour market information, enabling informed and equitable decision-making and where everyone who shapes the labour market uses it to negotiate and decide on decent work and pay. This vision is grounded in WageIndicator’s long-term commitment to labour market transparency and accessible data, which they believe contributes to improved labour market insights, policies and conditions globally.

WageIndicator’s mission is to collect, analyse, and communicate reliable, up-to-date and context-specific labour market information across more than 200 countries and territories globally in local languages to improve labour market transparency, insights, policies and conditions globally, and to bring together those who shape the labour market around it, so that everyone, from employees, self-employed and anyone working to earn an income to employers, trade unions and governments, can make informed decisions and act on them towards decent work and pay for all. 

Transparency is the means; decent work and pay for all is the aim. With its global team which operates from almost all countries in the world, its network of locally embedded data collectors, its scientific methods, and through its global databases, analytical tools, publications, and continuous engagement with all stakeholders, WageIndicator:

→ Provides up-to-date, contextual and accessible information such as on wages and salaries, minimum wages, living wages, living income and living tariff, labour law, social security and pensions, collective agreements, and workers’ priorities and working conditions;

therefore

→ WageIndicator is able to provide insights, flag and/or set the agenda on current, emerging and underaddressed topics that stem from analysis and insights from the data and engagement with stakeholders;

→ Brings together and co-creates with trade unions, employers’ organisations, companies, governments, researchers and civil society, so that data, tools and practical solutions are shaped with those who use them;

so that

→ Employees, self-employed and anyone working to earn an income, employers, trade unions, governments and other changemakers can negotiate and decide on the basis of credible information. In collective bargaining, in wage-setting and policy, in the implementation and enforcement of laws and agreements, and in business and purchasing practices.

WageIndicator: Data that works.