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The authors propose that in its application by policymakers, minimum wage policy should focus on its initial intended purpose– ensuring that workers receive remuneration at a particular threshold to provide for their basic needs. Beyond that, the minimum wage should not be used as the primary tool to accomplish other political and economic goals, such as increasing average wages or promoting social development.

This report discusses the political economy of minimum wage setting that has developed in Indonesia and seeks to examine the changing role of workers, employers, and local governments.

Corporate codes of conduct that only commit companies to pay minimum or market wages to their workers have proven– in most key sourcing countries– insufficient in the task of ensuring workers are fairly compensated. To do their share, global brands must commit to a higher standard than just paying minimum wages.

In the world's fourth-largest country, Indonesia, the number of annual regular migrants has increased from less than 100,000 in 1990 to about 500,000 in 2013. But is the pursuit of migration as a development strategy supporting economic, social, and political empowerment in communities of origin?