CONTENTS -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Executive summary -- Part I. Major trends in wages -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Trends in average wage growth in the global economy -- 3 Developed economies -- 3.1 Average wages: Some variation across countries -- 3.2 Productivity outstrips wage growth in developed economies -- 3.3 Labour income shares -- 4 Trends in emerging and developing economies -- 4.1 Higher wage growth -- 4.2 Labour income share can decline despite high wage growth -- 5 Towards a progressive convergence in average wages? -- Part II. Wages and income inequality -- 6 Introduction: The role of wages in household income inequality -- 6.1 The context: Long-term inequality on the rise in many countries since the 1980s -- 6.2 The range of policy responses to inequality -- 7 Mixed recent trends in income inequality -- 7.1 Measuring "top-bottom" and "middle-class" inequality -- 7.2 Developed economies: Mixed inequality trends in a context of generally flat or declining income -- 7.3 Emerging and developing economies: Varying inequality in a context of generally increasing incom -- 8 Inequality: The role of wages and paid employment -- 8.1 Analysing how wages affect changes in inequality -- 8.2 The labour market effect: Wage effect plus employment effect -- 8.3 Developed economies: Job losses and wage cuts as the major factors in changes in inequality -- 8.4 Emerging and developing economies: A major role for labour market effects -- 9 Relating inequality to sources of income -- 9.1 Developed economies: Disaggregating income sources -- 9.2 Emerging and developing economies: A varied and evolving picture -- 10 Wage gaps: Which workers earn less than others, and why? -- 10.1 The gender wage gap -- 10.2 The migrant wage gap -- 10.3 The informal economy wage gap -- Part III. Policy responses to address wages and inequality.

11 Introduction: The policy challenge -- 12 Labour market policies to address wages and inequality (primary distribution) -- 12.1 The role of policies to affect wages and wage distribution directly -- 12.2 The role of policies to affect wages and wage distribution indirectly -- 13 Fiscal policies to address wages and inequality (secondary distribution) -- 13.1 The role of taxes -- 13.2 The role of social protection and its relationship to labour market policies -- 14 Conclusion: Combined policy actions can address inequality, promote employment and support aggreg -- Appendixes -- Appendix I. Global wage trends: Methodological issues -- Appendix II. Definitions, concepts and data issues -- Appendix III. Changes in household income inequality -- Appendix IV. Decomposing wage gaps -- Notes -- Bibliography.