Is a Living Wage a Just Wage?
- A Relational Concept. A just wage is an aspect of a fundamental ethical relationship between employer and employee, community and society.
- Grounded in Dignity. A just wage is necessary to maintain a life of dignity for workers. ...
- Between Ethical Minimum and Maximum. ...
- Sustainable and Equitable. ...
- Linked With Character and Virtue. ...
What is the right to a just or living wage?
Catholic Social Doctrine: The Right to a Just or Living Wage. The worker's labor is what allows him to "gain access to the goods of the earth.". It is what allows him "the means to cultivate worthily his own material, social, cultural, and spiritual life and that of his dependents.". Failure to pay him a just wage shuts him out of this endeavor.
What is a “just wage?
A just wage “allows [workers] to live a truly human life and to fulfill their family obligations in a worthy manner.” Yet the encyclical does not specify that a man must earn enough to provide for his wife and children, or that a just wage serves as a protection of motherhood and the family.
What is the difference between justified wage and minimum wage?
Justified wage is the wage level that is high enough to attract workers but low enough to enable employers to offer employment. The divergence between a justified wage and minimum wage may depend on several factors including the state of the economy and level of unemployment.
What is a'justified wage'?
What is a 'Justified Wage'. Justified wage is the wage level that is high enough to attract workers but low enough to enable employers to offer employment. The divergence between a justified wage and minimum wage may depend on several factors including the state of the economy and level of unemployment.
What is your definition of a just wage?
A just wage covers the basics necessary for a minimally decent life for a worker and the worker's household, including hours of work that are predictable, not excessive, and provide regular rest to facilitate a decent life away from work.
What is socially just wage?
Ascension's new 'socially just' minimum wage: $11 an hour.
What is the minimum wage theory?
Minimum wage behaves as a classical price floor on labor. Standard theory says that, if set above the equilibrium price, more labor will be willing to be provided by workers than will be demanded by employers, creating a surplus of labor, i.e. unemployment.
What is the minimum wage and why is it controversial?
Though a federal minimum wage has existed since 1938, it remains an ongoing subject of controversy specifically because of the perceived gap between the actual minimum wage and the need for a true “living wage.” According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal minimum wage at the time of writing is $7.25, ...
What a just wages is and why it is important?
A just wage is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave injustice. In determining fair pay both the needs and the contributions of each person must be taken into account.
What is the problem of just wage?
Common Issues on Wages Wage indexation to cost of living, where wage is automatically adjusted with the increases of cost of living, is not usually met by majority of the employers. Companies have different interpretations of the justifiable pay for certain job positions, skills and tasks.
What was the original purpose of the minimum wage?
The purpose of the minimum wage was to stabilize the post-depression economy and protect the workers in the labor force. The minimum wage was designed to create a minimum standard of living to protect the health and well-being of employees.
Why a government may impose a national minimum wage?
The purpose of minimum wages is to protect workers against unduly low pay. They help ensure a just and equitable share of the fruits of progress to all, and a minimum living wage to all who are employed and in need of such protection.
Why we should abolish the minimum wage?
The minimum wage is damaging not only because it induces employers to cut hours or let existing workers go. It's also harmful because it dampens the incentives for, and flexibility of, entrepreneurs to develop new ways to employ people who are out of the job market.
Does minimum wage create unemployment?
The single largest problem with increases to the minimum wage is that they result in higher unemployment for low-skilled workers and young people. Put simply, increases in the minimum wage increase labour costs to employers who respond by reducing the number of employees and/or the number of hours worked.
What would happen if there were no minimum wage?
Without minimum wage laws, items would be cheaper in stores as business owners are able to provide items at a lower cost since they do not have as much invested into each item. However, this would have to be necessary since people would not be making as much.
Is a minimum wage a benefit for society?
Some studies find that the minimum wage has significant benefits for workers; others conclude that it is harmful. Many studies have been inconclusive. Even so, there appears to be a growing consensus that when the minimum wage is set at a moderate level, the impact on employment is modestly negative.
What is the just wage theory of St Thomas Aquinas?
A Just Wage. In the Middle Ages St Thomas Aquinas examined the notion of a just wage and concluded that such a wage should include the value of the product produced along with a remuneration to reward the labour of the work effort expended.
What is minimum wage for a 21 year old?
£9.18 anAge 18-20 - £6.83 an hour. Age 21-22 - £9.18 an hour. Age 23+ - £9.50 an hour (National Living Wage).
What is the living wage based on?
Our calculation is based on living costs and when it is annually recalulated we take into account any fluctuation in those costs. Rent is the primary living cost that causes the differential between the two rates but we also take into account childcare, travel costs, food and household bills.
How is a just wage determined?
A just wage -- as well as a wider just wage structure -- is best determined by negotiation via union recognition, collective bargaining, and regular contracts. In the absence of collective bargaining, a just wage can be encouraged by standardized guidelines featuring due process procedures in wage negotiations and disputes, as well as input via bodies chosen by the workers themselves (staff councils, advisory bodies, etc.). Regardless of union recognition, a just wage structure should include representation of workers in leadership positions (such as boards of directors) and opportunities for co-ownership (via stock options, e.g.).
What is the criteria for a just wage?
Criterion 1: Wage enables decent life for worker and household. A just wage covers the basics necessary for a minimally decent life for a worker and the worker’s household, including hours of work that are predictable, not excessive, and provide regular rest to facilitate a decent life away from work. Further, a just wage rests upon ...
Is a just wage excessive?
A just wage is not excessive. Within an organization, a just wage structure features a policy inhibiting extreme inequality between the highest and lowest earners; it promotes the sustainability of the enterprise in the long-term interests of all stakeholders.
Overview of Ethical Dimension of Just Compensation
The first ethical principle is that every working person possesses an inherent dignity and deserves respect. All workers, no matter how high or low their skills or compensation, are important and valued members of the institution.
Just Compensation
Justice demands that all compensation decisions start with the recognition that each worker has a fundamental human dignity and worth that is equal to every other worker. People work to support themselves and their family members. Thus, at a minimum, each worker must earn enough to support themselves and their family as a result of their labor.
Lowest-Paid Workers
A critically important part of the ethical evaluation of any institution is how it compensates its lowest-paid workers. This is the point where the contest between living wages and market forces is played out.
Highest-Paid Workers
While ethics indicates that all persons are entitled to be treated with human dignity and respect, there is also general agreement that just compensation does not mean that all people must earn the same amount.
Pay Equity Considerations
Equity issues in determining just compensation are aimed at eliminating the effects of gender-, race-, age-, and disabilitybased wage discrimination. While these types of wage discrimination are now illegal, the effects of discrimination remain.
Role of Government
The government has an obligation to provide the legal and economic framework necessary for employers and workers to engage in fair and just compensation relationships. Government has a duty to help citizens secure basic justice and to protect the civil and human rights of those without the power to secure those rights for themselves.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adler, Mortimer J. 1992. The Great Ideas: A Lexicon of Western Thought. New York: Scribner.
What does Leo believe about the just wage?
Following Thomas, Leo believes the just wage is both necessary for and in accordance with a life of virtue. The just wage should also be a family wage, meant to support the worker and his family so that women and children would not have to work for wages outside the home.
What is wages in economics?
From a strictly economic point of view, wages are nothing more than the price of labor, which are determined by the free agreement of buyer and seller. From an ethical perspective, however, wages are often the sole means of income for individuals and families, and workers have a right to wages that are sufficient ...
What Pope rejected the Marxist-socialist and the Fascist-Corporatist solutions to the
Pope Pius XI’s 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno commemorated the fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum. Like Leo, Pius rejected both the Marxist-socialist and the Fascist-corporatist solutions to the “social question.” The just amount of pay is a “most difficult matter” that cannot be solved by a single measure or standard. Pius worried that
What is Marxist theory?
Marxist theory held that the owners of capital had every incentive to lower the costs of production in their search for higher profits. Due to intense competition, workers suffered long hours, unsafe conditions, and low pay as a result. Women and children likewise enlisted in the labor force to make ends meet.
What is the purpose of remuneration for work?
Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good.
How has the welfare state tamed capitalism?
The welfare state has largely tamed capitalism with an array of regulations, safety nets, and transfer payments. Including benefits and taxes, what an employer pays can far exceed the employee’s take-home pay. Laws that make it harder to fire workers makes employers less willing to hire them.
When was Mater et Magistra written?
The context had changed dramatically by the time Pope John XXIII wrote Mater et Magistra in 1961, the last encyclical to deal with just wages in any kind of detail. Following World War II, the market economies of the West had produced enormous amounts of wealth and opportunity.
