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SECTION 1 2 3<br />
WHAT CAN BE DONE<br />
THE HIGH ROAD: ANOTHER WAY IS POSSIBLE<br />
Turning the tide on poverty wages<br />
Some countries are bucking the trend in the race to the bottom on wages,<br />
decent work and labour rights.<br />
Brazil’s minimum wage rose by nearly 50 percent in real terms between 1995<br />
and 2011, in parallel with a decline in poverty and inequality (Figure 11).<br />
FIGURE 11: Inequality levels in Brazil during the period in which the minimum<br />
wage rose by 50 percent 341<br />
0.62<br />
Income inequality (as Gini coefficient)<br />
0.6<br />
0.58<br />
0.56<br />
0.54<br />
0.52<br />
0.5<br />
0.48<br />
1995<br />
1996<br />
1997<br />
1998<br />
1999<br />
2000<br />
2001<br />
2002<br />
2003<br />
2004<br />
2005<br />
2006<br />
2007<br />
2008<br />
2009<br />
2010<br />
2011<br />
Income inequality (as Gini coefficient)<br />
Since taking office in 2007, the Ecuadorean government, led by Rafael Correa,<br />
has pursued a policy of increasing the national minimum wage faster than<br />
the cost of living. 342 Ecuador joined the World Banana Forum to improve<br />
conditions in this key export industry. 343 Profitable companies were already<br />
required by law to share a proportion of profits with their employees, but new<br />
regulations also required them to demonstrate that they pay a living wage;<br />
that is a wage ‘covering at least the basic needs of the worker and their family<br />
and corresponds to the cost of the basic family basket of goods divided by<br />
the (average number) of wage earners per household.’ 344 A decade ago, many<br />
workers earned less than half this amount.<br />
In China, where the government has followed a deliberate strategy of raising<br />
wages since the 2008 recession, spending by workers is forecast to double<br />
over the next four years to £3.5tn, increasing demand for imported and locally<br />
made goods alike. 345<br />
78