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This WageIndicator Data Report presents the results of the face-to-face survey on wages and working conditions in Guinea, conducted between the 13th of September and 2nd of October 2012. In total 1,962 persons were interviewed, the majority in urban areas. More male than female workers were interviewed and more younger than older workers. On a scale from 1=dissatisfied to 10=satisfied, half of the respondents rate their satisfaction with life as a whole a six or higher and 10% score an 8 or higher. The workers in the survey live in households with on average 3.9 members, including themselves. Roughly half live with a partner and children, 33% live without either a partner or children. Nearly three in ten workers had diplomas from secondary education. One in four workers followed no formal education, 10% stopped at primary education, 20% followed post-secondary vocational education and 17% had a university bachelor or master degree. In the sample, 66% were employed as managers, 9% work in services and sales and 9% as clerical support workers. Four in ten respondents work in trade, transport and hospitality, 30% in the public sector, 16% work in agriculture, manufacturing and construction and 14% in commercial services. Almost half the people work in an organization with 10 or fewer employees (47%). Some 27% of workers are covered by collective agreements, whereas 56% wish to be. The average usual working week of respondents is 52 hours in 5.9 days. Some 22% of workers are self-employed, 35% were employed on a permanent contract, 31% on a fixed-term contract and 13% had no contract at all. 53% of the workers were entitled to social security. Three in ten workers have no agreed working hours, 37% received their wages in a bank account, whereas 60% receive them in cash. On a 5 point scale of informality, 27% of workers are in the lowest category, whereas 17% are in the highest category. The median net hourly wage of the total sample is 2887 Guinean Franc (FG). Employees with permanent contracts have by far the highest earnings (4330 FG), whereas self-employed workers (990 FG) have the lowest earnings. At 1947 FG, workers in firms with less than ten employees earn the lowest wages, whereas employees in firms between 51 and 100 employees earn the highest wages (5160 FG). The more informal a job is, the lower are the net hourly wages. Those on the lowest end of the scale earn only 1209 FG per hour, whereas those in the fourth category earn wages far above that (median is 6240 FG). Managers have the highest median wages (3495 FG), followed by skilled agricultural workers (3029 FG). The lowest paid workers are plant and machine operators (1283 FG), followed by technicians (1460 FG). By industry, the lowest wages are found in trade, transport, and hospitality (1780 FG). Six in ten self-employed workers earn less than FG 1500 per hour, as do nearly half of the employees without contracts. Some 79% of the sample is paid on or above the poverty line and 74% on or above the minimum wage of 400,000 francs per month of FG 400,000 per month gross, that trade unions, employers and the government agreed upon on the 14th of December 2012. Self-employed workers are the single most vulnerable group; just less than half earn more than the poverty line and only 44% earn the prospective minimum wage rate. Whereas 65% of fixed term employees earn more than the poverty line, just 48% earn more than the future minimum wage. Only 52% of informal workers are paid above the poverty line compared to 97% of the most formal workers. Especially for the lowest two categories on the informality scale, the share of workers earning above the minimum wage (41% of the lowest, and 69% of the second category) is much smaller than those with incomes above the poverty line. Eight in ten managers are paid above the poverty line and minimum wage rate, implying the minimum wage will not lead to any improvement in salaries for 80% of the managers because they already earn more than that. The largest effects can be found among technicians and associate professionals (72% above the poverty line, 41% above the minimum wage), workers in elementary occupations (78% above the poverty line, 49% above the minimum wage) and services and sales workers (80% above the poverty line, 61% above the minimum wage rate). Workers in trade, transport and hospitality are most at risk of being not paid above the poverty line (only 65% do) and even less likely to earn the future minimum wage rate (56%). A worker’s position on informality index, working for a small firm, permanent contract status, gender and age affect the likelihood of being paid on or above the poverty line. Most of these effects also count, but have smaller effects, when explaining whether someone is paid on or above the future minimum wage, for which the informality index and occupational status become more important. |
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