ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the sharpen the definition of full-wages and component-wages, and propose a general basis for identifying full-wage and component-wage levels. It examines the social adequacy of women’s and men’s wages over the 1980s in terms of their full-wage and component-wage capacity. The distinction between full-wages and component-wages is an innovation of this research. In contrast, we propose to define full-wages and component-wages directly in relation to a minimum standard of household income, for households of different composition. The minimum full-wage level for a one adult household is a significant point for, as discussed previously, it will be taken to define the dividing line between full-wages and component-wages. The minimum full-wage levels for a one adult household also establish the threshold for component-wages. A comparison between the distribution of earnings in Britain and levels of minimum full-wages and component-wages shows the substantial inequality in the social capacity of wages earned by women and men, and by manual and non-manual workers.
