DAVOS: A CEO from one of the world鈥檚 top five global fashion brands has to work for just four days to earn what a garment worker in Bangladesh will earn in an entire lifetime, campaigning group Oxfam International said Monday.
In the run-up to the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Oxfam has sought to put inequality at the heart of this week鈥檚 deliberations of the rich and powerful.
鈥淭he billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system,鈥� said Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International鈥檚 executive director. 鈥淭he people who make our clothes, assemble our phones and grow our food are being exploited to ensure a steady supply of cheap goods, and swell the profits of corporations and billionaire investors.鈥�
In its report 鈥淩eward Work, Not Wealth,鈥� Oxfam says 82 percent of the wealth generated last year went to the richest 1 percent of the global population while the poorest half of the world鈥檚 population 鈥� 3.7 billion people 鈥� saw no increase in their wealth.
Billionaire wealth, it added, has risen by an annual average of 13 percent since 2010, over six times more than the wages of average workers, and the number of billionaires rose at an astonishing rate of one every two days in the year to March 2017.
Oxfam listed a series of actions government should take, including limiting returns to shareholders and top executives, ensuring workers receive a minimum 鈥渓iving wage鈥� and pushing through policies to eliminate the gender pay gap and protect the rights of women workers. It also urged a clampdown on tax avoidance and other associated practices, which have been highlighted by the recent publication of the 鈥淧anama Papers鈥� and the 鈥淧aradise Papers.鈥�
Oxfam, which has sought for several years sought to highlight the problem of inequality on the eve of the World Economic Forum, said that without action, the populist and nationalist tides around the world will only become more acute.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen a shift in narrative in terms of what people say, but we haven鈥檛 seen action to match those words,鈥� said Nick Bryer, Oxfam鈥檚 Davos campaign manager.
Governments, he said, need to 鈥済et back into the driving seat鈥� and challenge the big corporations and the billionaires.
鈥淭here鈥檚 plenty they can do,鈥� he said.
While conceding that the efforts of Oxfam and other civil society groups have yet to force substantive change among governments, Bryer said it鈥檚 important that they carry on delivering the message to the rich and powerful at events like the World Economic Forum, a gathering that鈥檚 perceived by many as solely serving the needs of the global elite.
鈥淧eople are realizing that shocks are fueled by inequalities,鈥� he said.
Oxfam鈥檚 findings are based on the annual Global Wealth Databook of Swiss bank Credit Suisse, and Forbes鈥� billionaire ranking series