ABSTRACT
In 1967, A.D. Smith, using available ILO data, reviewed the trends in real wage levels in developing countries during the period 1956-64. However, his analysis was confined to the manufacturing sector ‘to cover as many countries as possible on a comparable basis’ (Smith, p.3). Smith summarized his results as follows:
Smith also included available statistics on the annual growth rate of consumer prices in addition to the real GDP per capita in the tables for individual countries. The experience of the four African countries stood at as being altogether different from that of the countries in other regions — the growth rate of real wage in these countries was 4 to 5 times higher than their GDP per capita. In other regions, only two countries — Colombia and Dominican Republic had a similarly high rate of increase in real wages, which actually exceeded their GDP per capita. All the other countries in America and Asia witnessed a real wage increase close to or even below their per capita GDP growth rate.
