Fair Wage Project
What are the Poverty Parameters used in The Fair Wage Guide?
NON-POVERTY WAGE
The Non-Poverty Wage Indicator is a calculation based on the US non-poverty rate of $7.74/hour. Sweatfree Communities developed their own definition and methodology to calculate the non-poverty wage for every country accounting for differences in cost of living and GDP.
MINIMUM WAGE
Minimum wages vary greatly from country to country. The FTWG uses ILO database of minimum wage rates for unskilled adult workers. In countries where there is more than one minimum wage rate the ILO defines a minimum and maximum level. The minimum is the lowest minimum rate applicable to an unskilled adult worker. The maximum is the highest minimum wage rate applicable to an unskilled adult worker.
THE ACUMEN POVERTY LINE
The Acumen Poverty Fund, a global non-profit fund, serves the 4 billion people living on less than $4 per day. In many of the poorest countries, paying above $4 per day will have a significant impact on people living in poverty.
ABSOLUTE POVERTY LINE
The World Bank created international poverty lines defined as $1, $2, $4 and $11 per day. Behind this approach is the assumption – based on national poverty lines from a sampling of developing countries – that after adjusting for cost of living differences, $1 per day is the minimum consumption required for subsistence in low income countries. We have chosen the $2 per day poverty line as the minimum poverty indicator here.