Wages in Madagascar. WageIndicator Survey 2012.

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2013
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This WageIndicator Data Report presents the results of the face-to-face WageIndicator survey in Madagascar, conducted between the 23rd of November and the 14th of December 2012. The survey aimed to measure in detail the wages earned by workers in all provinces of Madagascar, including the self-employed. In total 2,018 persons were interviewed, 93% of whom lived in towns and cities. The workers in the survey live in households with on average 4 members, including themselves. Six in ten workers live with a partner and children. Just over half of the workers had diplomas from secondary education, 4% enjoyed no formal education, 16% stopped at elementary education and 27% followed tertiary education. On average, respondents had worked for 14 years. On a scale from 1=dissatisfied to 10=satisfied, interviewees rate their satisfaction with life as a whole an average 5.3. In the sample, 34% of the workers are self-employed, 30% are employees with a permanent contract, 10% have fixed-term contracts and 23% have no contract at all. Up to 66% of workers in the sample report being employed as managers. This group includes all business owners, including micro-enterprises. Some 9% are clerical support workers, 8% are skilled agricultural workers and 7% services and sales workers. Over four in ten respondents work in trade transport and hospitality and 38% in agriculture, manufacturing and construction; 5% work in commercial services and 17% in the public sector. Six in ten people work in an organization with 10 or fewer employees, 31% work in an organization with 11-50 employees, 5% work in businesses of 51 to 100 employees and 3% work for businesses employing over a 100 people. Some 73% of workers report receiving their wage on time and 70% of workers receive their wage cash in hand. The average usual working week of respondents is 51 hours spread out over 5.7 days. Up to 45% of workers report working shifts or irregular hours, 16% work in the evenings, two in three workers work Saturdays, while one in four works Sundays. While 11% of workers are covered by collective agreements, 65% wish to be. Some 35% state that they are entitled to social security. Nearly half of the employees have no agreed working hours, 31% has agreed working hours in writing, 22% only verbally. On a 5-points informality-index, ranging from 1=very informal to 5=very formal, 49% of workers are in the lowest category, whereas 20% are in the highest category. The median net hourly wage of the total sample is 662 Ariary (MGA). Employees with permanent contracts earn 1207 MGA on average, employees on fixed term contracts 961 Ariary, workers without contracts 427 Ariary and self-employed only 318 MGA. At 462 MGA, workers in firms with less than ten employees earn the lowest wages, whereas employees in firms of between 51 and 100 employees earn the highest wages (1195 MGA). Those on the lowest end of the informality scale earn only 328 MGA per hour, whereas those in the highest category earn 1443 MGA. Workers with tertiary education (1732 MGA) earn above average wages; workers without education earn the lowest wages (122 MGA). By occupational category, the graph shows that clerical support workers have the highest median wages (912 MGA respectively), followed by managers (750 MGA). The lowest paid workers are skilled agricultural workers (253 MGA) and service and sales workers (340 MGA). The highest wages are earned in the public sector, health care, and education (1386 MGA) the lowest in agriculture, manufacturing and construction (550 MGA). Almost half of the self-employed workers (46%) earn less than 250 MGA per hour, as do 35% of the employees without contracts; only 8% of fixed term employees and 4% of workers with permanent contracts do. Over half of the workers with tertiary education earn more than 1500 MGA per hour, whereas 9% workers with primary education and 7% of those without education do. Only 59% of the sample is paid on or above the minimum wage. Workers without contracts and the self-employed are the most vulnerable groups: just four in ten earn the minimum wage rate. In contrast, 88% of employees with permanent contracts and three in four workers on fixed term contracts earn at least the minimum wage. Workers in firms employing between 51 and 100 people are most often paid above the minimum wage (84%), while only 46% of workers in firms employing 10 or less people are. Only 38% of the most informal workers are paid the minimum wage, compared to 93% of the most formal workers. Women are slightly more likely to paid the minimum wage than men (60% versus 58%). The older workers are, the more likely they are to be paid above the minimum wage rate. Workers with tertiary education are paid on or above the minimum wage rate in 89% of the cases, compared to just 19% of workers without formal education. Seven in ten clerical support workers are paid the minimum wage rate, whereas only 36% of services and sales workers are. Workers in trade, transport and hospitality are most at risk of being not paid above the minimum wage (only 48% are), while public sectors are most likely (87%).
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Besamusca, J., Tijdens, K., Ngeh Tingum, E. and Ravelosoa, R., 2013. Wages in Madagascar: WageIndicator survey 2012.