Any business that considers itself responsible and sustainable must pay its employees a living wage. Not a minimum wage – a living wage.
In many American communities, families working in low-wage jobs make insufficient income to live locally given the local cost of living. Recently, in a number of high-cost communities, community organizers and citizens have successfully argued that the prevailing wage offered by the public sector and key businesses should reflect a wage rate required to meet minimum standards of living.
Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier who holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of California-Berkeley and is the director of the Center on Trade, Technology, and Economic Growth, Institute for Policy Research and Evaluation at Pennsylvania State University developed a living wage calculator to estimate the cost of living in your community or region.
The calculator lists typical expenses, the living wage and typical wages for the selected location.
The tool is designed to provide a minimum estimate of the cost of living for low-wage families.
The estimates do not reflect a middle class standard of living. The realism of the estimates depend on the type of community under study. Metropolitan counties are typically locations of high cost. In such cases, the calculator is likely to underestimate costs such as housing and childcare.
To find out what those in your community should be earning, or paying visit http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu/
I certainly understand and appreciate the desire to emphasize realism in the pay scale relative to living wages, especially in uber-expensive communities like mine (Orange County, CA). As someone who has been a casualty of corporate downsizing and layoffs, and facing ongoing challenges in finding ANY job, it’s almost laughable to conceive of companies rushing to enhance their compensation, even to meet a viable need. More often than not, I see ads for positions requiring college degrees and several years of experience which would pay $12-$15 an hour. Similarly, in seeking freelance writing work, I find online resources offering to pay pennies per word for professional writing (resulting in an hourly rate of well under $10), and well-qualified, credentialed professionals line up for the opportunity. Regrettably, there are so many applicants – even for these wages – that employers get away with egregious underpayment based on the unequal supply/demand paradigm. Unfortunately, while responsible businesses SHOULD pay a living wage, they don’t seem to be compelled to do so…..THAT’s reality.
I agree with you Diane, there will always be people in desperate need of money that they take on any job they can get, regardless wage, and this companies sadly take advantage of. Having a living wage system should be obvius to all corporations today, especially in countries where the economic gap between people is large. Respecting the basic human needs (in this case having a home, and a decent standard of living) should not be voluntary to any company today.
Income disparities is a huge problem in the US. Jon Stewart’s recent video summarizing the response to Buffet’s plea with Congress for more taxation on the wealthy is awesome.
If a living wage is going to gain more momentum, how do we make the justification to business conservatives who argue that wages will not mean increased productivity? I wonder if there is a model which would directly link a portion of an employees wages to the success of the company? All employees become “stockholders” of their particular employer.
In creating a movement, have you seen Seth Godin’s Ted talk on Tribes?