The ‘living wage’ and low income: can adequate pay contribute to adequate family living standards?
Donald Hirsch
2134/26607
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/The_living_wage_and_low_income_can_adequate_pay_contribute_to_adequate_family_living_standards_/9472010
The success of the contemporary ‘living wage’ movement has been highlighted by the UK government’s decision to increase the statutory minimum wage for over-25s sharply, in the name of improving living
standards. This breaks with neoliberal reluctance to intervene in labour markets, yet raises difficult issues centring around whether minimum hourly pay rates are suited to promoting adequate household incomes. At worst, ‘living wages’ could distract from other policies with this
objective. This article acknowledges recent critiques of the living wage
as an anti-poverty measure, but demonstrates that, in combination with
other policies, wage floors can play a crucial role. It shows that low pay and inadequate working incomes overlap substantially. The article argues that governments promising that work will deliver adequate living standards need a clearer narrative in which pay, public transfers/subsidies and sufficient levels of employment combine to deliver minimum
acceptable living standards for working families.
2017-09-22 08:37:24
Living wage
Minimum incomes
Working poverty
Language, Communication and Culture not elsewhere classified
Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified