Introducing the WageIndicator

Update January 1, 2008

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Its history
The WageIndicator Foundation
The wage information pages
Web-marketing and media coalitions

More about the WageIndicator concept in Research lab

Its history

The WageIndicator is an international, continuous web-based operation. A national website has content about wages, working conditions, labor standards or other work-related topics. It has a crowd-pulling Salary Check providing free information on occupation-specific wages, controlled for individual factors. After having explored the pages with wage information, web-visitors are encouraged to complete the continuous, international comparable questionnaire on work and wages with a prize incentive.

The project started in 2000 in the Netherlands with a large-scale, paper-based survey to collect data on women's wages. In 2001 a WageIndicator website was launched for the first time. Its Salary Check showed wage information for 45 occupations, using the coefficients of occupation-specific wage regression analyses, based on the survey data. Ever since, the Salary Check is updated annually, using the web survey data. After five years, it provides wage information for over 400 occupations.

In 2004, similar websites were introduced in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Italy, Poland, Spain, and United Kingdom, funded from the European Commission. Thanks to a 3-year European Commission 6th Framework Programme grant for the WOLIWEB project - nr 506590.

In 2005 and 2006 websites were launched in Brazil, India, South Africa, South Korea, Argentina, and Mexico, funded from Netherlands Development Aid. Thanks to two 3-year grants of the Netherlands Development Aid Fund, provided through FNV Mondiaal, for the Towards a Global WageIndicator project.

In 2006, a website in Hungary was launched, funded from the European Commission Thanks to a grant from EQUAL.

In September 2006, a website in the USA was launched, thanks to funding from the Harvard Law School, Labor & Worklife Program, Cambridge.

In September 2007 the Russian WageIndicator - Mojazarplata - was launched in cooperation with Independant Media. In 2007 the Chinese WageIndicator team started working on a website and questionnaire. WageIndicator.cn is not yet officially launched. The Chinese project is supported by Renmin University, Beijing and Harvard Law School, Labor & Worklife Program, Cambridge.
In January 2008 Monster Sweden launched the Swedish WageIndicator. And Mojazarplata will give access next to Russian visitors to visitors from Armenia, Azarbaidjan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizystan, Turkmenistan, Tadjikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

In April 2008 5 new websites will be launched. In France - thanks to the so called WIBAR project. In Chile, Columbia, Guatemala, Paraguay - thanks to a 2-year grant of the Netherlands Development Aid Fund, provided through CNV, for the so called TUSALATIN project.

Apart from France none of the European WageIndicators teams depend on funds. They are all able to continue on their own resources. Similar for Brazil, India, Korea, South Africa, Russia and post soviet countries, China & the USA. Apart from Brazil are all other Latin American countries in 2008 still dependent on funding.

Technically, the WageIndicator websites, web surveys and Salary Checks are developed, managed and maintained in the Netherlands. They are hosted on two server hotels in the Netherlands and the USA. Its open source Content Management System (CMS) allows for easy updating websites by national web managers. Its Questionnaire Management System (QMS) is a database with a Master questionnaire with all questions in English and country-specific questionnaires in the national languages. The QMS also allows for uploading and downloading questionnaire related information.

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The WageIndicator Foundation

The WageIndicator concept is owned by the WageIndicator Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to labour market transparency by providing accurate wage and wage related information. Its mission statement reads:

"Share and compare wage information. Contribute to a transparent labour market. Provide free, accurate wage data through salary checks on national websites. Collect wage data through web surveys."

Thus, the public at large contributes to scientific information gathering, and scientists in return provide information free of charge to the public.

On 17-9-2003 the Foundation was established under Dutch law. Its founders are the Amsterdam Institute of Advanced Labor Studies (AIAS) of the University of Amsterdam, the Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions (FNV), and career website Monster. They make up the Board of Supervisors. The Foundation has a lean management structure. Director Paulien Osse manages subcontracting companies for web programming, web design, data and questionnaire management, and web journalism. The Foundation plus these four subcontractors together make up the international support team. The Foundation's director supervises the overall management and supports the national web managers, involving the international support team whenever need arises. Professor Kea Tijdens, University of Amsterdam, is responsible for the scientific part of the survey and the dataset. Initially financed from grants, in each country a team of researchers and web managers could be formed and made responsible for the national website.

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The wage information pages

The wage information pages at the WageIndicator websites are critical in attracting visitors. Each national Salary Check shows wage information for a number of occupations, controlled for variables such as gender, tenure, education, supervisory position, promotion at the current firm and region. The Salary Check uses the coefficients of occupation-specific wage regression analyses, based on the survey data. Annually, Salary Checks are updated, using the web survey data. In addition, many WageIndicator websites have included the crowd-pulling VIP Paycheck, presenting wages earned by movie stars, heads of state, and other Very Important Persons.

For the initial start of the Salary Check pages, the so-called WageIndicator-checks have been developed. These WageIndicator-checks use national occupation-specific wage data from other sources, as long as a national WageIndicator dataset is not yet available. These alternative data may come from establishment earnings, survey data, or other sources.

From the visitor's emails, four main reasons for consulting the Salary Check pages emerge. The pages are consulted for job mobility decisions, mostly in an initial stage of the decision making process, for annual performance talks with employers or at the start of wage negotiations, by school pupils and students who face occupational choices, and by employers particularly in small and medium sized companies, whenever they recruit staff or start wage negotiations with their employees.

In some countries, a need exists for wage information from other countries. For example, as of late 2006 the WageIndicator website in Poland www.twojezarobki.pl presents for a selection of occupations also wages earned in the United Kingdom. Additional pages present information for Polish workers who consider looking for a job in the UK. These pages provide information about permits needed, cost of living, working conditions etc. The confederation of trade unions TUC (United Kingdom) is involved in this project.



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Web-marketing and media coalitions

In all participating countries a desire for free wage information is apparent, leading to high numbers of web-visitors to the national websites. Each month the WageIndicator website in the Netherlands has over 400,000 unique visitors. Within a few years most national WageIndicator websites become middle-sized Internet players in their countries, given proper publicity and web-marketing. The Belgian website for example started in 2004, was elected the best website of the year 2006. The website in Argentina, only launched early 2006, has 30,000 visitors a month in less then a year.

Web marketing is complicated but critical in attracting web-visitors. The marketing policy of the WageIndicator unfolds along several lines. First, the information presented with the Salary Check and at the web pages must offer high quality. Second, visitors must trust both the information provided and volunteering their data in the survey. Trust is ensured through cooperation with top universities and confederations of trade unions such as UNI, FNV, DGB, or TUC. Support from the International labour Organisation ILO helps. Third, cooperation with web-based partners is critical. Current cooperation includes major web-portals, such as T-online (Germany), UOL (Brazil), IOL (South Africa) and Microsoft's MSN portal in UK and Netherlands. Fourth, cooperation with media groups or publishing houses with a strong Internet presence is critical. Current cooperation includes Rzeczpospolita (Poland), Mail & Guardian (South Africa), El Pais (Spain), Rheinische Post, Stern, Stuttgarter Zeitung, Sueddeutsche, Die Zeit (Germany), Business Week (USA), Independent Media (Russia) and De Telegraaf (Netherlands). Fifth, cooperation exists with the career site Monster, the world's largest job site, notably with Job Korea, Monster.se, Monster.be and Monster.nl. In addition, in some countries national websites cooperate with temp agency sites or with employment agency sites. Sixth, all national teams aim for free publicity. Finally, each country has at least one website, but sometimes more. This is quite natural in multilingual countries, like Belgium. Quite a number of national teams created a separate website addressing women. The Netherlands has additional websites for youth, 40+, the health care and the self-employed. All these websites offer different content and look-and-feel, but the Salary Check and the WageIndicator web survey are similar.

In recent years several new web tools have been developed, such as the Gross Net Check, Vip Paycheck and the Minimumwage Check. A so called Decent Work Check is under construction. Planned lauch April 2008. These tools all contribute to attracting visitors.
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