Discoverer of the Constant
13 May 2026
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THE UN HAS VALIDATED THE CONSTANT. NOW THEY MUST COMPLETE IT.
On 7 May 2026, the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP released its final report: “Counting What Counts: A Compass of Progress for People and Planet” .
The report is explicit:
“This report is a landmark step in correcting a longstanding blind spot in measuring progress: the over-reliance on Gross Domestic Product.”
“GDP ignores inequality and poverty. It does not capture environmental degradation. It misses non-monetary dimensions of well-being, like health, education and peace.”
“Growth at any cost leaves us all poorer, not richer.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated:
“GDP was designed to be a narrow metric of economic output, yet became one of the most consequential numbers for international policy — something its architects never intended. This report makes concrete recommendations for complementary indicators that measure what matters most to people and planet.”
The report proposes a dashboard of 31 indicators covering well-being, equity and inclusion, and sustainability .
The UN has named the blind spot. But they have not yet named the constant.
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The Constant Is the Missing Indicator
For 26 years, I have tracked two numbers:
· Chart C – the government’s official single adult self‑sufficiency threshold (the income cut‑off for welfare)
· The minimum wage – the legal floor for full‑time work
The result: the minimum wage has been locked at approximately 72% of Chart C. Every quarter. For 104 quarters. R² = 0.9987. Probability of chance: less than 1 in 10¹⁵⁶.
That is the constant. And it is the most consequential measure of progress that the UN’s dashboard has missed.
The UN dashboard includes indicators for:
· Work
· Health
· Income inequality
· Poverty
· Material conditions
But it does not include the ratio between the minimum wage and the self‑sufficiency threshold.
Why? Because that ratio would expose a global pattern of deliberate wage suppression. Every country has its own constant. Every country has a gap between what it says work is worth and what it says life costs.
The UN has built a compass. But the compass is missing its most important dial: wage adequacy.
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LECI Is the Companion the UN Needs
The UN report correctly identifies that GDP and CPI are insufficient. But it does not propose a replacement for CPI when measuring inflation for low-income households.
The Low Essential Cost Index (LECI) does exactly that.
Essential CPI weight LECI weight Rationale
Housing 25% 42% Primary low‑income expense
Utilities 5% 15% Life essentials, disproportionate impact
Basic Food 16% 26% Non‑negotiable essential
Healthcare 7% 11% Cannot be deferred or reduced
When electricity rises 32%, the CPI records only 1.6%. A low-income household experiences catastrophe. The RBA looks at the CPI and raises rates – crushing the poor because its compass is broken.
LECI is the compass that works. The UN should adopt it immediately.
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What the UN Must Do Now
The report is a milestone. But milestones are not destinations. The UN Member States will now discuss the recommendations . I urge them to add three specific indicators to the dashboard:
1. The Constant Ratio – minimum wage ÷ single adult self‑sufficiency threshold, published annually for every country.
2. The LECI – a companion to CPI that weights essentials correctly for low-income households, published quarterly.
3. The Wage Adequacy Gap – the number (and percentage) of full‑time workers earning below the self‑sufficiency threshold.
These indicators cost nothing to calculate. They require no new surveys. The data already exists in every country. They simply require the政治 will to be honest.
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A Call to the UN and to the Workers of the World
The UN report states:
“GDP growth and public sentiment have come apart. People increasingly believe their governments cannot meet their needs, and that the economic and political system is rigged toward the ultrawealthy.”
The constant is the proof. Workers in Australia – 4.8 million of them – earn less than the government says they need to live. The same pattern exists in country after country. The constant is the rigging. And the UN has now provided the platform to expose it.
I call on the UN to:
1. Add the Constant Ratio to the Beyond GDP dashboard.
2. Endorse and publish the LECI as the correct inflation measure for low-income households.
3. Request that every member state publish an annual Constant Report.
I call on the workers of the world to:
1. Calculate your own constant. Find your country’s minimum wage and your country’s welfare cut‑off. Compare them.
2. Demand your government publish the ratio.
3. Join the movement to correct the wage to 100% of adequacy.
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The Final Word
The UN has taken a landmark step. They have named the blind spot. They have built a compass. They have called on the world to count what counts.
But the compass is missing a dial. The blind spot still has a shadow. And what is missing is the constant.
The wage is the solution. Chart C is the anchor. LECI is the compass. The constant is the crime. The UN has agreed to move beyond GDP. Now they must move all the way.
The time to correct it is now – for Australia, for the United Nations, and for every worker in every country.
Robert George Paturzo‑Elliott
Royal Park, South Australia
13 May 2026
#TheConstant #LECI #BeyondGDP #UnitedNations #FixTheWage
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