Estimating a Living Wage Globally
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| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | During the last decade, the concept of a living wage has received renewed international attention. This paper contributes to the living wage discussion and introduces a method to calculate a living wage globally. The proposed approach is innovative in the way that it uses prices collected through web-surveys in order to provide timely, reasonably accurate and globally comparable estimates. The living wage is estimated for 100 countries and rates are contrasted with the indicators of the relative poverty line and national statutory minimum wage. The living wage is normatively based and therefore offers an additional metric of economic adequacy that reflects the needs of workers and their cost of living. Findings demonstrate that many workers in countries of Eastern Europe and in the most middle-income countries do not receive a living wage. |
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