GENEVA (CMC) – The International Labour Organization (ILO) says wages grew by less than one per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean over the past year as it observed that wage growth around the world slowed in 2013.

The ILO in its Global Wage Report 2014-15, noted that overall, wages around the world decreased to two per cent compared to 2.2 per cent in 2012, and has yet to catch up to the pre-crisis rates of about three per cent.

It said that even this modest growth in global wages was driven almost entirely by emerging G20 economies, where wages increased by 6.7 per cent in 2012 and 5.9 per cent in 2013.

By contrast, average wage growth in developed economies had fluctuated around 1 per cent per year since 2006 and then slowed further in 2012 and 2013 to only 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.

With respect to Latin America and the Caribbean, the ILO said while in 2013, wages grew by six per cent per cent in Asia and 5.8 per cent in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, they grew by only 0.8 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Wage growth has slowed to almost zero for the developed economies as a group in the last two years, with actual declines in wages in some,” said Sandra Polaski, the ILO’s Deputy Director-General for Policy.

“This has weighed on overall economic performance, leading to sluggish household demand in most of these economies and the increasing risk of deflation in the Eurozone,” she added.