Research · Underpayment around the world
Each country counts differently, so there's no global rate.
To know whether people are paid properly, someone has to check pay, record what they find and publish it. We searched for national records of underpayment. We found published figures for 14 countries, and an official government record for only 7. Some countries may keep records they don't publish; we'll add any we find.
Every figure links to one of 16 primary sources and says who counted it, what it measures and what it can't prove.
Not found in our search
Drag to turn the globe
A$453 million
Wages recovered · FY 2025-26
FY 2024-25: A$358 million for more than 249,000 workers
Read with careRecovered for identified workers through Fair Work Ombudsman enforcement. This does not represent all underpayment nationally.
Fair Work Ombudsman media release, 14 September 202601Who counts the pay
In 2018 the European Commission measured this twice: once from employers' wage records, once by asking workers.
About 1 in 70workers paid less than the minimum wage (1.43%)
About 1 in 12workers paid less than the minimum wage (8.1%)
Both are estimates of pay below the minimum wage, not of every pay mistake. European Commission, Labour Market and Wage Developments 2024
02Where it happens
Each was found a different way, so they can't be ranked.
| No. | Job or group | Found in | What was found |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | HospitalityFound by regulator cases and wage claims | Australia · Europe · parts of Asia | A regulator priority, with repeated wage claims. |
| 02 | Farm workFound by surveys | European Union · Australia · Latin America | Higher underpayment on farms, where many workers are migrants. |
| 03 | ConstructionFound by wage claims | European Union · Singapore · Gulf states | Repeated claims for unpaid wages and overtime, often from migrant workers. |
| 04 | Cleaning and domestic workFound by studies and audits | Thailand · Kenya · Israel | Serious risks for contract cleaners and home workers. |
| 05 | Garment factoriesFound by worker studies | India · Indonesia · Pakistan | High underpayment in older studies, though results vary. |
| 06 | Migrant workersFound by studies and wage claims | Australia · Gulf states · Singapore | In every kind of job, some groups of migrant workers are underpaid more often. |
03The Piece My Pay record
Every pay check adds to a record that can show what almost no government publishes: how often people are paid properly.
A worker checks a pay period against their award or agreement, line by line.
The result joins the record. Only totals are published, never anything that identifies a worker or an employer.
We publish the totals here, openly, and update them as the record grows.
Not enough pay checks yet. These fill in as workers check their pay. In time, we hope this becomes the place where these numbers come alive.
—%of pay checks paid correctly
$—typically missing from one pay when it's short
Waiting for pay checks
