ABSTRACT
A living wage is the amount of remuneration a worker would need to receive – after a standard work week – to afford food, water, housing, education, health care, transportation, clothing and other essentials for themselves and their families. Living wages can promote progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals by addressing poverty, hunger and inequality, and promoting decent work and economic growth. Although international organizations have long committed to living wages, most countries’ legal minimum wage is insufficient to afford a decent standard of living. Living wage advocates aim to raise these minimums and/or convince companies to voluntarily pay more. Progress towards these goals is challenged by the cost of generating estimates globally, the need for agreement on a methodology for estimating a living wage, companies’ reticence to increase labour costs, and ideological resistance. Whether living wages will become a reality for more workers remains to be seen.
