2nd International Conference: Work, Wages and Workforce - 2026

The global labour market is undergoing a massive transformation due to rapid technological advancements, a surge in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), trade tensions and policy uncertainty, climate change, and demographic shifts across countries. The transformations have affected countries differently. The 2026 World Bank Global Economic Prospects and ILO Employment and Social Trends 2026 show that while developing countries face challenges in creating sufficient new jobs for their working-age population, developed countries are facing labour shortages due to a higher share of an ageing population. In particular, women, youth, and vulnerable populations are facing the highest challenges in securing decent work, exacerbating gender inequalities across countries. 

The labour market transformation makes tracking changes in occupations,  reassessing workers’ bargaining and wage setting, more critical than ever. Against this backdrop, WageIndicator Foundation and FLAME University are organising the second global conference that shall be a unique interface between academia, practitioners, and industry, aiming to advance scholarly discourse and encourage evidence-based practice and policymaking. The conference will be held at FLAME University, Pune, India from 30 November - 1 December 2026.

Two special sessions are planned as part of the conference.

Launch of the India Workforce Index

WageIndicator Foundation, FLAME University and Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad (IIM-A) embarked on computing the labour-market dynamics of workers in India through its project titled ‘Index of Job Market Trends for Blue- and Grey-Collar Jobs in India’ from November 2025. The multi-year project will celebrate its first anniversary by launching the index during the conference. Interested to know more?

Refer to our webpage: https://wageindicator.org/what-we-do/projects/india-workforce-index

Launch of Living Pension

Population ageing, labour market transformation, and persistent gender inequalities are reshaping the foundations of income security in old age and challenging the adequacy of existing pension systems worldwide. While the concept of a living wage has become an established benchmark for income adequacy during working life, no comparable, globally applicable benchmark exists for old-age income. As the latest initiative, WageIndicator has been building a global benchmark for computing Living Pensions across countries by building on its prior initiatives to estimate Living Wages and Living Tariff. WageIndicator will present the global Living Pension concept for 174 countries as a transparent, internationally comparable measure of the minimum income required for a dignified life in retirement.

To be announced in June 2026

The conference invites submissions from academics, practitioners and industry. To be considered, submit an abstract of no more than 500 words covering your research question, data and methodology, expected findings and contribution, and use of AI in the paper. Each applicant may present a maximum of one paper; there are no limits on co-authored submissions. Accepted applicants then submit an extended abstract of up to 1,500 words detailing their conceptual framework, hypotheses, methodology, conclusions and contribution to the discourse.

Full conference tracks and detailed submission guidelines are in the brochure. All submissions must be completed by 11:59 PM IST, 31 July 2026, via the Google Form.

Following the conference, selected presenters will be requested to share their completed papers for publication in a chapter in the book, 'Research Agenda for Collective Bargaining in the Global South,' to be published by Edward Elgar (2027)’. We especially encourage authors to use the WageIndicator CBA-database dataset for considering their papers for publication in the book.

• Professor Kea Tijdens - Emeritus Professor of Women and Labour Market Studies, Erasmus University; Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor, WageIndicator Foundation, The Netherlands
• Associate Professor Marta Kahancová -  Associate Professor of Public Policy at Comenius University; Co-founder and Managing Director, Central European Labour Studies Institute, Slovakia
• Professor Biju Varkkey - Faculty in the HRM Area, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India
• Associate Professor Ceyhun Güler - Faculty at Labour Economics & Industrial Relations, Faculty of Economics & Administrative Sciences at Dokuz Eylül University, Türkiye
• Associate Professor Santosh Kudtarkar - Dean, Undergraduate Education and Innovation, FLAME University, India
• Assistant Professor Janna Besamusca - Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at Utrecht University and Member of WageIndicator Supervisory Board, The Netherlands
• Assistant Professor Rupa Korde - Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy at FLAME University; Director of Finance and Operations, WageIndicator Foundation, India 
• Professor Alina Popescu - Professor, PhD Habil. Department of International Business & Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

• Dr. Rupa Korde - Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy  at FLAME University; Director of Finance and Operations, WageIndicator Foundation, India
• Dr. Leena Bhattacharya - Research and Communication Lead, WageIndicator Foundation
• Blanca Civit - Public Relations Lead, WageIndicator Foundation
• Paulien Osse - Co-Founder and Lead Living Wages, WageIndicator Foundation
• Kulvinder Singh - Researcher and Data Analyst, WageIndicator Foundation

For any queries, email the organising team of the WageIndicator Conference at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.