rpb,
I underestimated this question. Here is what I found:
Let's start with an article for history of the concept:
"Living wage refers to the minimum hourly wage necessary for a person
to achieve some arbitrarily defined standard of living'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_wage
There are two views of the issue: the movement vs employers:
What is the living-wage movement?
It's a grassroots effort to help low-wage workers earn enough to support their
families above the poverty line, defined in 1999 as $17,029 a year for a family
of four. This equates to $8.19 an hour for a full-time job and is 60% higher
than the $10,700 or so a worker would earn in a year at the federal minimum
wage of $5.15 an hour.
Sometimes this 'arbitrarily defined standard of living'
is specified by law (or ordinance):
Baltimore City Ordinance 442
These efforts, commonly referred to as "living wage campaigns," have
been launched by grass-roots coalitions of community organizations,
religious groups and labor unions - led in many cases by the AFL-CIO's
state labor federations and local central labor councils and the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Living
wage campaigns are underway in more than a dozen states and
municipalities.
http://www.cepr.net/columns/weisbrot_II/baltimore.html
Living wage ordinances have been enacted in over 70 localities.
The living wage level is usually the wage a full-time worker would
need to earn to support a family above federal poverty line, ranging
from 100% to 130% of the poverty measurement. The wage rates specified
by living wage ordinances range from a low of $6.25 in Milwaukee to a
high of $12 in Santa Cruz.
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/issueguides_livingwage_livingwagefacts
There is a number of articles, books, pages ,,
A book: The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy by Pollin ISBN:1565845889
http://view.nowpublic.com/?src=http%3A%2F%2Fplawiuk.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F05%2Fun-report-says-we-need-living-wage.html
Here is collection of weblinks - mostly unions and left-wing activist
sistes, such as
Living Wage Manual for Campus Activists from United for A Fair Economy
http://www.vtlivablewage.org/links.html
An article from TIME : How Much Is A Living Wage?
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,221138,00.html
CONCLUSION:
a living wage remains poorly defined and no international consensus
about methods of calculation has been established so far
http://www.novartis.com/corporate_citizenship/en/2006_living_wage.shtml
The US gov says:
Challenges in Defining an Acceptable Minimum Wage
Defining an acceptable minimum wage level, or a 'living wage' in
various countries is particularly difficult because of the challenge
of finding a common basis across countries and over time. For example,
in India, an official committee concluded in 1954 that a living wage,
They did set up a committee, which says:
Committee Interpretation of Acceptable Conditions of Work
The committee recognizes that the U.S. government does not use a
single interpretation of acceptable conditions of work. Using
alternative interpretations has the benefit of allowing the government
to interpret the law flexibly, as called for by the legislative
history
OK, it is not clear what gov says.
International Labor Standards | Acceptable Conditions of Work
Common international norms in ratifications or laws would become the
standard ... Defining an acceptable minimum wage level, or a 'living
wage' in various ...
http://www.dol.gov/ilab/webmils/ intllaborstandards/workingconditions.html
Looks like they consider ILO views. That happened 1932:
ILO CONVENTION (No. 26) CONCERNING THE CREATION OF MINIMUM WAGE-FIXING MACHINERY
http://bar.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1932/3.html
I conclude, that there is no agreed on international standard, giving
actual numbers
There are :
Alternative Interpretations
One possible interpretation of the intentions of the U.S. Congress is
that acceptable conditions of work are those provided by widely
ratified ILO conventions, perhaps by at least 100 nations. Following
this interpretation, those working conditions governed by ILO
conventions ratified by at least 100 nations would be 'acceptable.'
Based on this interpretation,
A second interpretation of acceptable conditions of work would be
based on the facts that, as discussed in previous chapters, a nation's
decision to ratify an ILO convention does not necessarily mean that
that nation's workers enjoy the rights embodied in that convention and
that a nonratifying country may enforce domestic laws that ensure
workers enjoy those rights.
http://www.dol.gov/ilab/webmils/intllaborstandards/workingconditions.html
Since it is impossible to prove that something 'does not exist' and I
did not found exactly what you wanted, I am posting this as a comment.
You may invite me to post an answer on the 'best effort basis';
It would accept definition that that LW is about 130% of the minimal
wage and look for stats on PREVAILING OR MINIMAL wage.
http://www2.gwu.edu/~labor/resources.html
It seems to be something like [original notion of] communism:
some desire it, some fear it - they fight over it,
while it was never well defined.
Best definition I came to is:
LW is a minimal wage labour and left-wing we like to see.
It is about 120% of the current minimal wage.
Hedgie |
