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Unequal wages for private sector employees in Lebanon
10-5-2017
The little available data on inequalities in Lebanon has shown large disparities in the distribution of wages, according to Al Akhbar newspaper. While Credit Suisse Bank figures indicated that only 0.3% of Lebanese own 48% of local wealth, a joint study by the Finance Ministry and UNDP pointed out in 2015 that the wage crisis in Lebanon is not only limited to a decline (from 35% in the nineties of the last century to a current 20%) in the share of the GDP, but also has to do with inequality in the distribution of income among wage earners. The said study maintained an oscillation in private sector wages between an average high of LBP 221 million (USD 147.33) annually, that is equivalent to LBP 18.5 million (USD 12,333) per month, and roughly 27.28 times the minimum wage (LBP 675,000), and an average low of LBP 3 million (USD 2000) annually, equivalent to LBP 250,000 (USD 166.6) per month, representing only one third of the minimum wage. The above study has also shown that the 2% private sector income group accounts for 17% of the total declared wages, against a 22% share for the bottom 59% of the sector’s labor force. Disparities, the study reported, are outsized among informal and self-employed groups, as they embrace researchers, freelancers and entrepreneurs (account for 6.3% of private sector workforce), in addition to day laborers (81.5%). As such, the study analyzed, the bottom segment which comprises around 25.4% of taxpayers (receive less than LBP 6 million (USD 4 thousand) per year and less than 4% of the total income declared for this category. The upper segment, on the other hand, generating incomes starting from LBP 60 million (USD 40 thousand) per year up to LBP 120 million (USD 80 thousand), dominates about 46.7% of the total incomes. The survey has shown that disparities widen with careful examination of the shares of high income earners, noting that the share of the 1.4% of the private sector workforce (among the 6.3% segment) has reached 14% of the total incomes declared. (For more on the UNDP/ Finance Ministry study, please visit the following link: https://www.al-akhbar.com/node/276951)
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- العربية
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Friday, October 9, 2015
Collective for Research and Training on Development - Action (CRTD.A)