5-Steps toward living wages in value chains

We believe that living wages are crucial to solving many of today's social development challenges - from reducing poverty and inequality, to advancing human rights and decent work, eliminating child labour, and driving economic empowerment.

The Living Wage Roadmap is at the heart of this effort.

Roadmap on Living Wages

First launched in 2020, the Roadmap on Living Wages builds on eight years of IDH’s experience advancing decent work and wages across agricultural and manufacturing sectors. It was co-created by IDH with a wide network of partners, bringing together diverse expertise to shape practical solutions.

Updated in 2026, the Roadmap reflects the evolution of corporate human rights responsibilities, growing international recognition of living wages, and insights gained through sustained collaboration with companies, trade unions, standards, international organisations, governments, NGOs and living wage estimate providers.

Living wages are a shared responsibility. Through the Roadmap, we set out five clear steps that empower companies to accelerate action toward living wages:

Step 1

Laying the groundwork

Align on the “why,” “what,” and “who” of living wages

Step 2

Measuring

Understand where you are, and where you need to go

Step 3

Building the business case

To understand and enable investment

Step 4

Implementing solutions

To take on the shared responsibility of closing living wage gaps

Step 5

Reporting and sharing insights

To build trust, share what you’ve learned, and learn from others

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IDH is a long-standing and highly valued partner of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and one of the leading organisations working on living wages and living incomes. The roadmaps are important tools to accelerate progress on both — providing practical guidance and support to companies taking steps to implement living wage and living income commitments in their value chains.

Charlotte Bernard– Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands

There are many different methodologies and distractions along the way, and the IDH roadmap helps you stay on track.

Xavier Rousell– Dole Food Company

The Living Wage Roadmap reflects what matters most: Collaboration and action. The ILO is proud of the collaboration with IDH. What stands out is the truly joint process. Partners are involved from design through to implementation. The balance between estimating and operationalising living wages strongly aligns with the ILO’s new program and reflects a growing focus on practical action.

Elva Lopez Morello– International Labour Organization (ILO)

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IDH and the ILO

How does the Roadmap align with the ILO Guidance on living wages?

IDH’s Roadmap on Living Wages aligns closely with the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) guidance on living wages. It follows the ILO’s definition of a living wage and applies its principles for transparent, evidence-based, and context-specific wage estimation.

The Roadmap promotes effective social dialogue as essential for sustainable improvements to living wages. This is embedded in IDH’s tools and in supporting projects that enable collective bargaining toward a living wage.

Through our five-step approach, the Roadmap supports companies in putting living wages into practice in line with ILO recommendations. For more details, see the full analysis of how the Roadmap and its tools align with the ILO guidance.

Partners

IDH leads the Roadmap on Living Wages. We orchestrate collaboration and work with a broad network of partners to design, test, and put living wage approaches into action across global value chains.

Working with strategic and technical groups, we shape the Roadmap's direction, share expertise, and co‑develop practical solutions.