Might a Living Wage be an Answer to Global Poverty?

 by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

A LIVING WAGE may be the answer to global poverty everywhere, perhaps. 

A living wage is a socially acceptable level of income in any given region. It provides adequate coverage for basic necessities such as food, shelter, child services, and healthcare. So, in a place such as South Africa, it would be modest compared to a living wage in the Boston metropolis. A living wage in Mississippi would be less than a living wage in New Jersey, yet it would provide workers in every community with a comparable, self-sufficient income. It restores universal dignity to a day's labor. 

As a bonus, a living wage is responsive to the dynamics of regional market conditions, not some one-size-fits-all government program. Market conditions determine the living wage standards for families to meet their basic human needs. It rebalances the responsibility for the welfare of different communities back on the owners of capital and away from government-subsidized labor. It shrinks the "welfare state" and allows governments to focus more attention on those who can't work, like children, the disabled, and the elderly. It ends exploitation and economic slavery. It is the right thing to do.

Many argue that a living wage law is an unfair burden on business owners, that it restricts the free market. But is a fair wage for a day's work really incompatible with private business ownership? Must corporations and businesses be free to exploit employees under capitalism? 

This is crazy thinking. It suggests that capitalists should not be held responsible for the general welfare of their workers or the society in which they operate, or that governments should not set minimum worker living standards for business owners to abide. Yet, when governments do step in to assume that responsibility of keeping workers and their families alive and well, you call that a social welfare state. You can’t have it both ways. Either owners pay workers at least a living wage as part of the cost of doing business (a fair distribution of productive wealth) or they must allow governments to subsidize the labor force for them and pay for that service through business taxes (a fair redistribution of wealth). Either way it is all still a capitalistic system.

In February of 2020, I wrote this piece "A Solution to "Sh*t-Life Syndrome" in America. It remains relevant today and is worth reading.

Ten years ago I published a more definitive piece on the topic of a living wage to serve as a primer for anyone not familiar with it. Since then, I have come to see a living wage concept as the answer to global poverty, if it were to become a universal standard among nations. 

Here is the link to "Making the Case for a LIVING WAGE"