It seems like a pipe dream in a world in which labour regulations have been decimated. But a ‘global minimum wage’ set at a level that would give workers the chance of a decent life would lift hundreds of millions out of poverty.
How would it work? One formulation comes from US economist Thomas Palley, who figures that such a minimum wage could be set by countries at 50 per cent of their median wage (the point at which half the workers are paid more, and half less). This would involve a politically difficult redistribution from the super-rich. All countries would be bound by the same rule but they would be free to set the minimum wage higher if they so wished. For very low-income countries where this median point would still be below the poverty line, the wage would need to be set above it.
