The Benefits Of Living Wage

In this country, getting paid to perform your job is understood. It is routine. It is expected. It is right. But how is one employee’s salary regarded in comparison to another employee’s salary? Do these salaries have to be equal? Most would agree that if both employees are performing the same tasks at the same establishment with the same amount of dedication and efficiency, equal pay is deserved. But what about if one employee is male and the other female, then on what grounds are their salaries determined? This answer shows its true colors through the life of one woman working for a well established company where nearly all employees were men, and for her particular position, she was the sole female. Her efforts to overcome pay

Living wage is a level of income that enable workers to afford basic necessity of life like shelter, food, health care and education. This is to afford any one that work full-time to live above poverty line, avoid homelessness and hunger; it’s meant to just meet basic necessities and provide buffer against emergencies or improve quality of life. It’s however disheartening to note that this basic wage has continue to be a dream for most workers in this country today; even as the companies or entities they work for makes record profits. Opponent of national living wage had cited possible job loss, capital flight in this era of globalization of capitalism, and natural forces of market as reason why implementing national living wage is a bad policy that would make the

In this article, the author discusses the significance of living wages for workers in the US. The author explains that over the past decades, families have been unable to keep in stride with the cost of living, due to low income. While jobs are being created, they do not provide sufficient wages for many families. Additionally, due to the requirements of some federal assistance programs, individuals must accept these employments, regardless of pay. As the economy has grown, the wages remains the same and many minimum wage earners fall below the poverty line.

wage debate in the United States argues if the current hourly rate of $7.25 is a livable wage in

In more recent history, one of the first local victories in the living wage movement took place in the early 1990s. In Baltimore, over fifty churches approached the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees to join in creating an organization of churches, labor union members, and low-wage service workers (William). The churches decided to join together for this cause because they saw first hand how low- wage workers were turning food stamps, publicly financed health care, and private assistance from churches. They saw an increase in the use of their soup kitchens and pantries by those who did, in fact, have a job. The churches concluded that minimum wage was not a just wage. This minimum wage no benefit jobs were no helping

A living wage can at least assure that a worker is being paid for basic requirements like housing, food, transportation which would help in their work and health care. According to the definition which states that the normal living wage should be good enough that not more than even 30% of his/her pay needs to be spent on living. But full-time workers were being paid the current minimum wage which would lead to incomes below the living wage in most of the areas in the country. In economical terms, that means that if a person is a full-time employee supporting his/her family of four on this current minimum wage, his/her household income would be 7000$ which is far below the poverty line. Campaigners who were in favor of raising the minimum wage to a living wage argue that doing this would give employees and their families the best chance to come out of debts and poverty stricken in the country. As an large number of employees take on lower wage work, poverty in the United States has increased: In 2005, 12.6% of Americans lived in poverty, compared to 15.7% this year (almost 50 million citizens)–the highest rate of poverty since 1965. Raising the minimum wage to a living wage would hopefully help to reverse this

The City of Los Angeles passed a living wage ordinance that resulted in headaches for many employers. It also provided the opportunity for a number of potential plaintiffs to consider taking their employers to court for failing to provide said living wage (including overtime pay) that is required according to the new living wage ordinance as well as California labor laws pertaining to overtime pay in the state.

As of 2009, the federal minimum wage established by U.S. Labor Law is of $7.25 per hour- income that is not enough to cover the expenses of an individual or family and therefore creates numerous economic and politic controversies. The inability to keep up with paying the bills and housing, spending money on healthcare and childcare- created a society of marginalized groups of people who face troubling barriers to opportunity and development. Consequently, a satisfactory standard of living can be achieved by implementing a living wage, which theoretically allows the employees to afford decent shelter, food, and other everyday essentials.

What is a living wage? “A living wage is one that allows families to meet their basic needs, without public assistance, and that provides them some ability to deal with emergencies and plan ahead” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). The sole purpose of a living wage is to allow those fulltime and yearly employees/workers the means and ability to provide for their families (Clain 2012, p.315-27). This issue is not only begin debated here the United States but it is a concern around the world, whether the fair distribution of income, the level of wages and other factors are indeed affecting the standard of living for its citizens ( Clary). The minimum wage in 2014 was 24 percent below its 1968 level despite the fact that U.S. productivity more than doubled over that period and low-wage workers now have much more

In the days of uncertainty we live in we should be able to make enough money to support our families. Based on the living wage calculator formulated by Michigan Technical Institute

The cost of living is increasingly becoming more out of reach to those who get paid minimum wage. As prices on products increase, a person's earnings stay the same. To combat this problem, cities like the above mentioned raise the minimum wage to more or less fit the cost of living. According to Investopedia the cost of living is “the amount of money needed to sustain a certain

Raising the minimum wage is a very important public policy issue. Raising the minimum wage is a responsible policy that is supported by research and demanded by the American public. Each day, minimum wage workers across the country struggle to make ends meet and provide a decent life for their kids (Scott & Perez, 2016). Raising the minimum wage is a controversial issue, many believe that raising the minimum wage would only provide low wage workers more money to spend. However, the benefits can be endless for low wage workers. If minimum wage is increased across the United States it would afford the people effected more opportunities for financial freedom. Increasing the minimum wage would raise the standard of living for low wage workers, allow families to be removed from poverty, allow for government welfare spending to be reduced and lastly additional income being spent would positively affect the economy.

The living wage movement is an economic reform movement that has become one of the most important public policy issues that has come up within the last 10 years. Although there is no single definition, it is often defined as an hourly salary that allows working families of four to have an income that is above the federal poverty line. This means that the livable wage laws often stipulate that hourly wages should be two to three times above the federal Mininum wage. However, unlike the Mininum wage, the living wage has so far only been enacted on the county and city level. Cities and counties enforce the living wage for companies that have contracts with their respective cities and counties, receive subsidies

2. A livable wage covers expenses such as food, clothing, transportation, and healthcare, and child care. In a 2015

The total labor force of the UK comprises of people age 15 years or older, they have to meet the International Labour Organization definition of the economically active population. The definition is “All people who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period” (Trading Economics). The highest percent of a labor force is in services they have 83.5% while industry has 15.2% and agriculture has 1.3% (CIA). In 2013 the UK was paying $7.81 for the minimum wage compared to the US $7.25, today the US’s minimum wage is still $7.25. There are now different types of minimum wage. There is a wage for apprentices, people that are not entitled to the minimum wage, voluntary work, and work experience and internships (GOV.UK).