Abstract
The ILO's October Inquiry (OI), a worldwide annual survey of wages and hours of work, has been conducted since 1924. However, its potential for informing debate about the effects of globalization, labour market institutions and other factors on wage levels and wage inequality has been hampered by problems of inconsistent reporting, making comparisons difficult. The authors outline the technical problems involved and present their method for transforming the OI data for 1983-99 into a consistent file on pay in 161 occupations in over 150 countries. The resulting Occupational Wages around the World (OWW) file should interest all labour (and other) statisticians.