Section 1 INSIGHTS

Section 1 INSIGHTS

Reforms Around The World

Summaries of Reforms

Between 1 January 2020 and 1 January 2022, we recorded 54 changes to indicator scores. There were 33 countries which introduced positive legal reforms, resulting in a change of score to 1. Over the same period, 21 countries either introduced legislative changes or did not revise their minimum wages during the last two years, resulting in a change in their score to 0. Bangladesh, Burundi, Mongolia and Togo were the only countries to have introduced changes in their legislation frustrating workers rights or inaction on their parts, thereby affecting the provision of labour rights in these countries.

Angola

❌ Fair Wages: Angola last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Bahrain

✔ Fair Treatment: Bahrain mandated equal remuneration for work of equal value. Bahrain also lifted restrictions on women’s ability to work at night and repealed provisions prohibiting or restricting women from working in certain jobs or industries.

Bangladesh

❌ Fair Wages: Bangladesh last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

✔ Trade Union: Bangladesh has allowed workers in export processing zones to bargain collectively with employers through their representative unions.

Bolivia

✔ Fair Treatment: Bolivia has removed restrictions on women’s employment. The law now allows women to work in the same jobs as men.

Botswana

❌ Trade Union: Botswana has imposed limitations on the scope of collective bargaining of public sector workers not engaged in the administration of the State.

Burundi

✔ Employment Security: Burundi has restricted the hiring of fixed-term contract workers by limiting the length and renewals of fixed-term contracts to 12 months

❌ Maternity at Work: Burundi has made maternity benefits an employer's liability.

✔ Safe Work: Burundi has required employers to provide free personal protective equipment to workers. The country has also restricted work that is prejudicial to the health of the mother or the child.

✔ Social Security: Burundi has introduced state-administered unemployment benefits for its workers.

✔ Fair Treatment: Burundi has mandated equal remuneration for work of equal value.

✔ Trade Union: Burundi has prohibited employers from terminating employment contracts of striking workers.

Cabo Verde

❌ Fair Wages: Cabo Verde last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

❌ Fair Wages: The Democratic Republic of the Congo last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Greece

✔ Family Responsibilities: Greece introduced paid paternity leave of 16 calendar days.

Iraq

❌ Fair Wages: Iraq last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Kenya

❌ Fair Wages: Kenya last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Kuwait

✔ Maternity at Work: Kuwait has implicitly prohibited inquiring about pregnancy during recruitment.

Lebanon

✔ Fair Wages: Lebanon has updated its minimum wage after or on 1 January 2020.

Lesotho

❌ Fair Wages: Lesotho last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Madagascar

❌ Fair Wages: Madagascar last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Malawi

✔ Family Responsibilities: Malawi introduced paid paternity leave of 14 calendar days. The country has also passed a law requiring paid nursing breaks until the child is six months of age.

Mongolia

❌ Fair Wages: Mongolia requires overtime compensation to be 150% of the regular hourly rate for employees who worked overtime and were not provided with compensatory rest.

✔ Decent Working Hours: Mongolia has restricted maximum working hours, including overtime, to 56 hours per week.

✔ Employment Security: Mongolia has restricted the hiring of fixed-term contract workers by limiting the length and renewals of fixed-term contracts to 24 months.

❌ Employment Security: Mongolia has extended the length of the probation period, including renewals, from three months to a maximum of six months.

✔ Family Responsibilities: Mongolia has introduced a paid paternity leave of 14 calendar days. The country now also requires flexible work arrangements for workers with family responsibilities.

✔ Fair Treatment: Mongolia mandates equal remuneration for work of equal value.

❌ Child and Forced Labour: Mongolia has set the employment entry age lower than the compulsory schooling age.

❌ Trade Union: Mongolia has not regulated the right to collective bargaining of civil servants not engaged in the administration of the State.

Montenegro

✔ Fair Treatment: Montenegro has removed restrictions on women’s employment. The law now allows women to work in the same jobs as men.

Myanmar

❌ Fair Wages: Myanmar last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Nigeria

❌ Fair Wages: Nigeria last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Peru

❌ Fair Wages: Peru last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Qatar

✔ Fair Wages: Qatar has updated its minimum wage after or on 1 January 2020. It is the first country in the region to announce a non-discriminatory wage that applies to all workers, irrespective of their sector of employment and nationality.

Senegal

❌ Fair Wages: Senegal last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

✔ Safe Work: Senegal has restricted work that is prejudicial to the health of the mother or the child.

Spain

✔ Trade Union: Spain has prohibited employers from terminating employment contracts of striking workers.

Togo

❌ Maternity at Work: Togo does not protect workers from dismissals during or on account of pregnancy.

✔ Fair Treatment: Togo has removed restrictions on women’s employment. The law now allows women to work in the same jobs as men.

❌ Trade Union: Togo has imposed limitations on the right to strike by extending the list of essential services outside the scope defined in the Labour Rights Index.

Ukraine

✔ Family Responsibilities: Ukraine has introduced a paid paternity leave of 14 calendar days.

United Arab Emirates

✔ Family Responsibilities: UAE has introduced a paid paternity leave of 7 calendar days.

✔ Fair Treatment: UAE now mandates equal remuneration for work of equal value.

Vietnam

✔ Maternity at Work: Vietnam has implicitly prohibited pregnancy inquiry and testing during recruitment.

✔ Fair Treatment: Vietnam has prohibited discrimination in employment matters. The country has also removed restrictions on women’s employment. The law now allows women to work in the same jobs as men.

Zambia

❌ Fair Wages: Zambia last updated its minimum wage before 1 January 2020.

Global Trends in Labour Rights

The Labour Rights Index tracks the changes in workplace rights during the past two years.

However, some countries have enacted regressive and repressive labour legislation, undermining and frustrating workers' rights.

The section describes some major trends before delving into detail at the country level.

Minimum Wage

Our data, under the Labour Rights Index, shows that minimum wages, statutory or negotiated, exist in more than 90 per cent of the 135 countries. While three countries have no provision for minimum wages, there are seven countries which stipulate minimum wages either for nationals or for public sector workers only. Seven of these ten countries either have no minimum wage or no minimum wage for private sector workers are from the Middle East and North Africa region. Given this background, Qatar announced a minimum wage that applies to workers in all sectors and does not discriminate between nationals and migrant workers.

Qatar is the first country in the Gulf region to introduce a non-discriminatory minimum wage for all workers, irrespective of their nationality. Other countries in the region may wish to emulate it.

Paternity Leave

In 2022, 58 of 135 countries covered under the Labour Rights Index 2022 provide for a statutory right to paid paternity leave of at least seven calendar days to fathers in the event of childbirth Many countries (36) stipulate a right to paid paternity leave of 1-4 working days. Others provide for unpaid paternity leave. In the last two years, six countries (Greece, Malawi, Mongolia, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates) have enacted legislation providing a paid paternity leave of more than seven calendar days..

These countries are from different regions and can serve as trendsetters within their regions. For instance, in the MENA region, only two countries have legislative provisions for paid paternity leave. Iran has had the necessary provisions since 2013, while the United Arab Emirates started offering paid paternity leave in 2020. Malawi is one of the five countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region to have a paternity leave of at least one calendar week.

Women’s Access to Same Jobs as Men

One of the components of the Labour Rights Index measures whether women can get the same jobs as men. Labour legislation in nearly half of the countries assessed under the Index prohibits women’s access to the same jobs as men on the pretext of protection. This happens by setting prohibitions on night work, creating an extensive list of jobs considered dangerous or hazardous for women, and prohibiting women’s employment in mining, construction, certain factories, and the transport sector. These legislative provisions limit employment options for women leading to women’s concentration in low-income and low- productivity jobs. Bahrain, Bolivia, Montenegro, Togo and Viet Nam have enacted necessary legislation allowing women to have access to the same jobs as men and allowing for greater women workforce participation.

Pregnancy Testing

Though international regulatory standards (C183) prohibit requiring women workers to take pregnancy tests, with a few exceptions related to occupational risks to the worker’s or child’s health, there are 62 countries where the practice is not prohibited under legislation. Since 2021, Kuwait and Viet Nam implicitly prohibit pregnancy testing or inquiring about pregnancy during recruitment. This allows women to join the workforce rather than being stopped at the door.

Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value

The gender wage gap, the difference between their earnings, expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings, is a useful measure to indicate how far behind women are in terms of wages. Women earn, on average, significantly less than men. Globally, the gender wage gap currently stands on average at 23 per cent – meaning that women earn 77 per cent of what men earn for each hour worked. The pay gap is even wider for mothers, women of colour, immigrant women, and disabled women. Legislation requiring equal pay for work of equal value and mandating minimum living wages can help narrow the gender pay gap in a country. Four countries, Bahrain, Burundi, Mongolia, and United Arab Emirates, now mandate equal pay for work of equal value.

*The list of countries in the tables on best and worst countries for workers are alphabetical. For detailed scores, please refer to the scores table at the start of this report.