Which ILO convention, adopted in 1970, provides international guidance on minimum-wage fixing systems?

ILO Convention No. 131 provides international guidance on minimum-wage fixing systems and was adopted in 1970.

The convention calls for systems that consider workers’ and their families’ needs alongside economic factors such as productivity, employment, and development. It also says minimum wages should have the force of law and should not be reduced by private agreements.

Convention No. 131 followed the earlier Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention of 1928, which focused on machinery for setting wages in certain industries. The later instrument has broader application and is especially associated with national minimum-wage policy.

Ratification is optional for International Labour Organization member states, so countries differ in whether they have accepted it. The convention supplies a framework, not one worldwide wage amount; the ILO does not set a single global minimum wage.