2.1.6 Most private sector wages were paid into an account

In both high-income and developing economies, private sector wage payments were mostly paid into accounts

Globally, 31 percent of surveyed adults received at least one wage payment from a private sector employer—43 percent in high-income economies and 28 percent in developing economies. In high-income economies, 87 percent of wage earners received their wage payments into an account (a share that has remained steady over time), compared with 61 percent in developing economies—an increase from just 37 percent in 2014 and 45 percent in 2017 (figure 2.1.6). These averages mask large variations among developing economies, both in the share of adults receiving private sector wage payments and in how they receive these payments. Although some economies have achieved levels of digitalization of private wage payments comparable to those in high-income economies, others still have room for growth. Consider economies in the East Asia and Pacific region. In China and Thailand, two upper-middleincome economies, about 45 percent of adults received a private sector wage payment, and the vast majority (about 80 percent) received it into an account. In Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and the Philippines, all lower-middle-income economies, about a quarter of adults received a private sector wage payment, with the share of wage earners receiving the payment into an account ranging between 17 percent in Lao PDR and 41 percent in the Philippines (figure 2.1.7). Country income group does not necessarily predict the proportion of people who receive private sector wage payments into an account. In Mongolia, a lower-middle-income economy with nearly universal account ownership, the percentages of adults who received a private sector wage payment (about 40 percent) and who received that payment into an account (about 90 percent) are similar to those in Malaysia, an upper-middleincome economy. However, in Myanmar, a lower-middle-income economy like Mongolia and one in which a similar proportion of adults (about 40 percent) receive private sector wage payments, just about one-fifth of these adults received their wages in an account.

FIGURE 2.1.6 Most private sector wages were paid into an account

Adults receiving private sector wages in the past year (%), 2014–21

a. High-income economies b. Developing economies

Source: Global Findex Database 2021.