E/C.12/GC/23 19. A minimum wage is “the minimum amount of remuneration that an employer is required to pay wage earners for the work performed during a given period, which cannot be reduced by collective agreement or an individual contract”.15 It provides a means of ensuring remuneration for a decent living for workers and their families. 20. States parties should prioritize the adoption of a periodically reviewed minimum wage, indexed at least to the cost of living, and maintain a mechanism to do this. Workers, employers and their representative organizations should participate directly in the operation of such a mechanism. 21. Minimum wages can be effective only if they are adequate to the goals set forth in article 7. The minimum wage should be recognized in legislation, fixed with reference to the requirements of a decent living, and applied consistently. The elements to take into account in fixing the minimum wage are flexible, although they must be technically sound, including the general level of wages in the country, the cost of living, social security contributions and benefits, and relative living standards. The minimum wage might represent a percentage of the average wage, so long as this percentage is sufficient to ensure a decent living for workers and their families.16 22. In setting the minimum wage, reference to wages paid for work of equal value in sectors subject to collective wage agreements is relevant, as is the general level of salaries in the country or locality in question. The requirements of economic and social development and achievement of a high level of employment also need to be considered, but the Committee underlines that such factors should not be used to justify a minimum wage that does not ensure a decent living for workers and their families. While recognizing that minimum wages are often frozen during times of economic and financial crisis, the Committee further underlines that, in order for States parties to comply with article 7 of the Covenant, such a measure has to be taken as a last resort and must be of a temporary nature, bearing in mind the needs of workers in vulnerable situations, with a return to the standard procedures of periodic review and increase in the minimum wage as swiftly as possible.17 23. The minimum wage should apply systematically, protecting as much as possible the fullest range of workers, including workers in vulnerable situations. The minimum wage might apply generally or differ across sectors, regions, zones and professional categories,18 so long as the wages apply without direct or indirect discrimination and ensure a decent living. In setting minimum wages at the sector or industry level, the work performed in sectors predominantly employing women, minorities or foreign workers should not be undervalued compared with work in sectors predominantly employing men or nationals. It is particularly important to ensure that the job evaluation methods used to align or adjust sectoral or occupational minimum wage schemes are not inherently discriminatory. 24. The failure of employers to respect the minimum wage should be subject to penal or other sanctions. Appropriate measures, including effective labour inspections, are necessary to ensure the application of minimum wage provisions in practice. States parties should provide adequate information on minimum wages in relevant languages and dialects, as well as in accessible formats for workers with disabilities and illiterate workers. 15 16 17 18 6 This is the definition relied upon by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations in a number of its reports and other documents. The European Committee of Social Rights has indicated that remuneration, to be fair, must be in any event above the poverty line in the country, i.e. 50 per cent of the national average wage. Letter of the Chair of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to States parties on austerity measures, May 2012. See ILO Minimum Wage Fixing Recommendation, 1970 (No. 135), Part III, para. 5.