Benchmark Report: Living Wage and Living Income Report for Rural Andhra Pradesh, India
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No. 2022-01-02
By Kuriakose Mamkoottam and Nidhi Kaicker
Abstract
Living income should be sufficient for a family (of 4 persons in the case of Andhra Pradesh) to lead a decent life, while living wage received by a worker for normal working hours should be sufficient to support herself/ himself and her/his dependents. Rs. 25,269 ($316) per month has been estimated as living income and Rs. 16,077 ($201) as living wage per month for rural Prakasam district. These estimates are considered applicable broadly to rural AP as a whole because of the similarities of agroclimatic conditions, cropping patterns, food habits, etc. This Benchmark report employs the Anker Methodology to determine the living wage and living income for rural Andhra Pradesh (Prakasam district, a leading area of tobacco cultivation in India). This study uses a combination of secondary data and primary data collected through field investigation. The living income estimated in this report is approximately 3.1 times that of the national poverty line family income, and 2.7 times the World Bank international poverty line family income.
This living wage study calculates the cost of a simple, but decent life, including a model diet that complies with WHO nutrition standards, and a housing standard that meets minimum international standards adapted for rural Guatemala. This report estimates the gross living wage for central rural Guatemala for September 2016 to be Quetzal (GTQ) 2,689 (US$ 359) per month. This living wage estimate is considerably higher than average prevailing wages of year around formal sector workers in the rural coffee sector of Guatemala’s Central Departments (around 60% higher than the closest estimate of prevailing wages) and the national poverty line wage (by around 50%). On the other hand, the living wage estimated is similar to government’s monthly minimum wage for agriculture that assumes 30.42 workdays per month and only about 21% more than the minimum wage if one assumes 24 work days a month. However, most agricultural workers, including in the coffee sector, are paid on a piece rate basis and earn less than the minimum wage. The paper calls for making living wage an important objective for the coffee sector with the entire value chain participating in efforts to raise wages.
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