Reward Work, Not Wealth

This briefing paper by Oxfam International was a response to the rapidly increasing wage inequalities around the world. It points out that the share of labour compensation in GDP declined because profits increased faster than wages and many workers, especially women, were still trapped in jobs with low pay. The benefits of economic growth, it says, continue to be concentrated in fewer hands, with the income share of the richest 1 per cent growing substantially. It looks at the growth of ‘extreme wealth’ and those who work but live in poverty. It closely examines global economic inequality and gives governments and corporations recommendations to curb it. For this paper, Oxfam surveyed over 70,000 people in 10 middle and high-income countries that represented one-quarter of the world’s population. The poll investigated public perceptions of inequality and was conducted in the U.K., Denmark, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Morocco, the Netherlands, the United States and Spain. Oxfam is an international confederation of 20 organisations in more than 90 countries that works to create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger and social injustice.