Pakistan better than India in fair wage distribution: report

DAVOS: Despite having better economic growth and privileges, India was not able to move past Pakistan in the fair wage distribution. Out of 82 countries, India ranks 79 while Pakistan ranks 76 in the fair wage distribution, said World Economic Forum’s Social Mobility Report 2020, foreign media reported.

Countries like Belgium, Finland, Denmark, and Slovenia were placed in the first four positions. The report, which was released ahead of the WEF’s 50th annual meeting, also placed India among the five countries that are likely to gain the most from a better social mobility score. According to it, the country needs to take some measures “necessary for creating societies where every person has the same opportunity to fulfill his potential in life irrespective of socioeconomic background.”

In a recent report ‘Second Careers of Women Professionals’ by Avtar Group, women are underpaid than their male counterparts.

The report which was released after surveying 783 second-career women from various sectors across India, said that around 69 per cent of women anticipate a pay cut on re-entry post-pregnancy. This leads to women joining the work after a leave suffer from wage and hiring disadvantages in the workplace.

Meanwhile, Oxfam’s India head Amitabh Behar has also said the “sexist” economies are fuelling the inequality crisis. The fortunes of those who are rich are accumulated at the expense of ordinary people and particularly poor women and girls. “Our broken economies are lining the pockets of billionaires and big business at the expense of ordinary men and women. No wonder people are starting to question whether billionaires should even exist,” said Amitabh Behar.

He further discussed, women and girls put in 3.26 billion hours of unpaid care work every day sums up to at least Rs19 lakh crore (Rs41.28 trillion) contribution to the Indian economy in a year. According to him, the gap between rich and poor can only be resolved with “inequality-busting policies and women, girls are among those who benefit the least from today’s economic system.”