{"id":1925,"date":"2018-04-09T19:15:23","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T19:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/proqc.com\/blog\/?p=1925"},"modified":"2023-09-25T12:05:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T12:05:02","slug":"whats-a-living-wage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proqc.com\/blog\/whats-a-living-wage\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s a Living Wage?"},"content":{"rendered":"A question that comes up often when sourcing abroad is determining what the living wage is and how well suppliers stack up.\r\n\r\nArticle 23 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that &#8220;everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and for his family an existence worthy of human dignity.&#8221; And, it&#8217;s even noted that Plato and Aristotle discussed the concept as they both argued for &#8220;an income that considers needs, particularly those that ensure the communal good.&#8221;\r\n<h2>How are Living Wages calculated?<\/h2>\r\n&#8220;A\u00a0living wage\u00a0is the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs.\u00a0<sup id=\"cite_ref-NYT-20141027-LA_3-0\" class=\"reference\"><\/sup>This is not the same as subsistence which refers to a biological minimum. Needs are defined to include food, housing, and other essential needs such as clothing. The goal of a living wage is to allow a worker to afford a basic but decent standard of living.\u00a0<sup id=\"cite_ref-4\" class=\"reference\"><\/sup>Due to the flexible nature of the term &#8216;needs&#8217;, there is not one universally accepted measure of what a living wage is and as such it varies by location and household type.&#8221;\r\n\r\nSocial Accountability International identifies the Living Wage calculation as follows:\r\n\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1926 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/proqc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Living_Wage_Calculation-1024x403-1.webp\" alt=\"Living Wages\" width=\"1024\" height=\"403\" \/>\r\n\r\nTo verify wages for suppliers, auditors check records over a period of time and conduct employee interviews. Applicable standards include SA8000, ISO 26000, various or organizational-specific such as WalMart or the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition.\r\n\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1927\" src=\"https:\/\/proqc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Social_WAges_Audit-1024x679-1.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1019\" height=\"676\" \/>\r\n\r\nSocial Accountability International posts Living Wage Reports for various areas within China, Africa, Vietnam, etc.\u00a0 View the SAI page here.\r\n\r\nWithin the United States, MIT provides Living Wage estimates based on states <a href=\"http:\/\/livingwage.mit.edu\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow noindex\">here.\u00a0<\/a>\r\n\r\nTo learn more about supplier social audits and view examples, reports, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/proqc.com\/\">Pro QC&#8217;s website.\u00a0<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A question that comes up often when sourcing abroad is determining what the living wage is and how well suppliers stack up. Article 23 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that &#8220;everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and for his family an existence [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[329,328,26],"class_list":["post-1925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sourcing","tag-living-wage","tag-social-compliance","tag-sourcing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is a Living Wage and How is it Calculated?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are living wage and how it is calculated - focusing on the difference between net and gross wages\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/proqc.com\/blog\/whats-a-living-wage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is a Living Wage and How is it Calculated?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are living wage and how it is calculated - 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