Civil Survival E-Learning

A Living Wage

Here we'll help you explore a new idea about how to pay workers. It’s called a “living wage,” and the idea started in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1994. Today the idea has spread to many other cities.  Check out this Web site to learn more about the idea of a living wage: www.universallivingwage.org.

Now complete the following activities. You’ll see that there is a lot more to the question than what a person’s paycheck shows.

Explore

Look around inside the Web site for www.universallivingwage.org. Find at least two each of the following:

• A city that is working to develop a realistic living wage.
• The cost for livable housing in those two cities.
• A celebrity who endorses the idea of a living wage.
• A myth about wages and the explanation of why it is not true. 

• Write down the basic idea of what a living wage is, now that you’ve read more about it.

• Why are different wages suggested for different cities?

• Would you move to a new city just because the hourly wage is higher than where you live now? Talk this over with your family or friends, and write down reasons others give for their choices.

Dig Deeper

• If you’re a worker, find out how paying a living wage would not always be easy for an employer. Start by asking your boss or manager.

• If you’re an employer, think about why it might be better in the long run to pay your employees a little more.

• Discuss whether local politicians, like the mayor in your town, should get involved with this issue.

• See if you can arrange a time to have a whole group of workers sit down with the boss. Then talk about how you could work together to make things good for both the business and the employees. 

Debate

Go back to the Web site  www.universallivingwage.org. Find one report (on the left under “Reports and Stats”) that looks interesting to you. Read more about how the question of living wages changes many more things than just the total on one’s paycheck.