The Protection of Wages

Adequate wages and timely payment are essential for securing decent work and social justice and have a very direct and tangible effect on the everyday lives of workers. For migrant workers, in particular low-wage migrant workers, wages frequently form a vital form of income for families and communities in the form of remittances.

Yet, wage protection is a major challenge for many of the world’s workers. The ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) has identified non-payment of wages, delayed payment of as key modern-day wage protection issues that can also lead to debt bondage and forced labour, with migrant workers being especially vulnerable.

This webpage displays links to key ILO standards and publications that concern wage protection, including the new ILO guidance note on the protection of wages for migrant workers, launched on the 27th of April 2023. The issue of non-payment of wages is one of the most common forms of complaints by low-wage migrant workers and especially workers in irregular status.

ILO’s training module on wage protection

This self-paced learning module will allow you to:

• Familiarize yourself with the content of international labour standards with regard to wage protection, wage deductions and in-kind payments;
• Appreciate how wage protection extends to different categories of workers, including migrant workers and domestic workers;
• Discover practical examples of different wage protection systems and promising practices.

Key documents

• Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95)
• Protection of Wages Recommendation, 1949 (No. 85)
• Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97)
• Migration for Employment Recommendation (Revised), 1949 (No. 86)
• Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143)
• Migrant Workers Recommendation, 1975 (No. 151)
• Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189)
• Domestic Workers Recommendation, 2011 (No. 201)