Living Wages in Latin America: An Assessment of Disparities and a Stakeholder Roadmap for Action

Abstract

A living wage (LW) refers to the salary that would be sufficient to cover the costs of a decent living standard for the employee and his family in a specific place. The topic is scarcely discussed in Latin American countries, which could benefit from it since the population of these countries faces several social and economic challenges, such as poor minimum wages (MWs), inflation and high poverty levels, even among employed people. To address this gap, this paper explores the research streams on LWs through a bibliometric assessment and sheds light on three case studies from Latin America evidencing the minimum wage gap in some Latin American countries. The results indicate huge disparities between MWs and LWs and, based on the bibliometric analysis, provide a stakeholder roadmap for action and a maturity level model for companies to adopt LWs.