The Living Wage

The living wage is clearly an idea whose time has come, when even Conservative chancellors adopt the term. Britain's low-wage culture needs the remedy of pay rates people can live on. But what does this flexible phrase mean? How can it be implemented and made sustainable? This crisply written guide by the leading experts is invaluable for understanding where the living wage has come from, what it means today and how it can work in the future. - Polly Toynbee; The minimum wage and other types of wage floors have made a huge difference in the standard of living for hundreds of millions of workers over the last two centuries. These floors continue to be a major area of contention in political campaigns and policy debates. In this book, Donald Hirsch and Laura Valadez-Martinez give an excellent summary of this history and the key issues. - Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, DC; Donald Hirsch and his team at Loughborough have played a central role in ensuring that the UK living wage movement rests on a firm intellectual foundation, which underpins its great moral authority. In their new book, Donald and Laura look at living wage campaigns in a range of different countries. Their timely insights make this recommended reading for those who want to see the living wage help more working people reach a decent standard of living. - Frances O'Grady, General Secretary, TUC