Living wage is squishy. It means different things to different socioeconomic groups. It means if you work a 40 hour week, you earn a wage that enables you to provide for yourself and the family unit you are responsible for without taking a second job.
In simple terms, a wage the average person can live off of. That number should be based on inflation.
That's the best site I've seen, ever, when it comes to this question. For my area, the "living wage" is $11.38/hr. Even if I accepted the notion that every job should be paid this wage (which I don't), why should employers in my county have to pay nearly a third more than is required for one person to make their living doing the most trivial of jobs?If you want a number, this is as good a place to start as any:
Living Wage Calculator
livingwage.mit.edu
What happens if I'm responsible for myself and another employee doing the same job as me is responsible for a spouse and two children? Your definition doesn't allow for a number to be determined as the living wage.
This doesn't result in a number.
That doesn't result in a number. It seems to be a purely emotional argument that is wholly detached from an objective analysis of data.
Like I said, if the number is variable across time or geography, provide an objective measure by which a person can calculate the number.
How do you calculate that average? Average what? Globally? Nationwide? Statewide? County? City? Neighborhood? And why should t be that average instead of another?
The number would be different in different regions but having a regional wage gets complicated so the easy thing to do is just pay everyone over the age of 16 $48k/yr and that should be a good starter for most folks.
What principles drive you to that figure? Why should an employer in a place with a low cost of living have to bear the cost of paying an employee what it costs to live in an urban center?
Because if they don't then they're racist.
That's what the first part of my answer says..."Living wage is squishy."
Then it's useless to squeal for one, since it's an indeterminate number. No one knows what you mean.
You mean like a minimum wage? State or federal? Tipped or not? Under 18 or not? Just starting your job or not? Please give me a minimum wage number that is standard across the country. Squeal? Are your panties in a bunch?
Sure. That's what most people talk about when they say the minimum wage needs to be increased -- that it isn't a "living wage."
$7.25.
That's the federal minimum wage. It isn't the minimum wage across the country. What is the significance of $9.89 per hour?
You asked for a standard minimum wage. That's it. If some states have decided that even more unskilled labor should be priced out of the market, that doesn't eliminate the federal minimum.
I've no idea. It has none to me.
I didn't ask for a standard, I asked what it is. $9.89 an hour is the minimum wage in AK.