One Step Closer to a Living Wage for All with New Data Collaboration

With over a billion workers estimated to earn less than they need to afford a decent standard of living, the United Nations Global Compact is calling for employers to take action. Unfortunately, even as more companies get behind Living Wage commitments, a major hurdle towards closing the Living Wage gap persists: the lack of agreement on what constitutes a Living Wage by location. Without alignment across different living wage methodologies, efforts by employers, organizations and governments to implement wage management programs are fragmented, reducing widespread adoption of Living Wages.?

To tackle these issues and meet the growing demand for accurate and consistent Living Wage data, , six leading organizations: BSR , Living Wage Foundation , Living Wage For US , Loughborough University Centre for Research in Social Policy , NewForesight, and WageIndicator Foundation , have?formed the WageMap consortium.

WageMap’s mission is to support the achievement of living wages for workers globally through strengthening a global movement of data and service providers. By informing, supporting, and incentivizing all relevant actors, WageMap aims to close the Living Wage Gap in a credible way.?

WageMap’s Four Key Objectives are to :?

• Establish a Living Wage Standard through a stakeholder-consulted standard-setting process that objectively evaluates Living Wage calculation methodologies and guides implementation efforts. This uniform living wage standard will drive consensus amongst data providers and serve as the foundation for setting incentives for frontrunning employers such as certification, rankings, and reporting mechanisms.?
• Choose a Globally Comparable, Locally Specific, Living Wage Benchmark for Each Location to generate consensus on the definition of 'best available' living wage data among publicly-available datasets in order to speed up Living Wage implementation.?
• Strengthen Collective Capacity to Drive Implementation through a credible support system of service providers that can support companies, unions, civil society,? and governments to implement the best sourcing, pricing, compensation practices, and policies.?
• Grow the Global Living Wage Movement of stakeholders who wish to play an active role in supporting the movement to close the Living Wage Gap. Low wages are rooted in systemic inequality and to enable living wage solutions requires all stakeholders. Global and local actors involved in wage-setting decisions each have a role to play in defining a living wage, as well as in how it should be implemented.?

Backing the WageMap consortium are global companies investing in Living Wage such as Mars. At the WageMap launch event, Mars Vice President of Sustainability Lisa Manley shared “One of the barriers to progress on Living Wages has been the lack of access to a global data system that has robust and reliable data. This (WageMap) is a game changer. It is going to provide businesses of all shapes and sizes around the world access to reliable, credible data that will allow them to map and understand the gaps that they have around Living Wages.”

"There are barriers to understand and not enough incentives put in place to make this move forward, faster… No longer will we be competing or making the environment confusing, the way to move forward is to collaborate, cooperate and create a clear standard on what we all on a global basis see a Living Wage including and use data that is being created by locally-led national movements as well as the global movement to get internationally comparable but locally specific benchmarks in one place." - Michelle Murray, CEO of Living Wage For US, member of the WageMap consortium.

"We are delighted to be part of the WageMap consortia. Momentum behind Living Wages globally has never been stronger and now is the time for all stakeholders to work together to remove the barriers to employers signing up - be that data alignment, shared approaches to implementation, myth-busting and recognition for employers who are at the forefront of leading change through our Global Affiliate network.” - Katherine Chapman, Director of the Living Wage Foundation.

The time to act is now. Coming out of UNGA, momentum for this effort is building with the announcement of the Forward Faster initiative where action on Living Wage is prioritized as one of five ?areas to accelerate achievement of the SDGs. Nearly 50 companies have committed to these UN Global Compact targets including:??

1. 100% of employees across the organization earn a Living Wage by 2030.
2. Establish a joint action plan with contractors, supply chain partners and other key stakeholders to work towards achieving Living Wages and/or living incomes, with measurable and timebound milestones.

As major players make these bold commitments, WageMap aims to be the collective force to help achieve these targets by driving agreement, alignment, and action.

1. If you are a Data Provider, join us in establishing this standard. The consortium aims to engage all living wage actors to inform this work. The work is intended to be inclusive.
2. If you are an Employer, reach out to begin your Living Wage journey. We already have tools and mechanisms to support you to develop a strategy and implement Living Wages in your direct operations and supply chain.?
3. If you want to lead the way, join a group of leading companies and social partners to financially support this effort. Launch partners will receive recognition for their leadership, have the opportunity to inform the standard-setting process and have early access to key insights and peer learnings to help shape their wage management programs.?

To support the WageMap initiative and learn about NewForesight’s Living Wage offerings please reach out to Daniel Viviers-Rasmussen, Head of Sustainable Sourcing and Impact,?[email protected]