page_title: Living wage
section_title: Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Living wage / Implementations / Australia
caption_attribution_description: English: Living Wage Inquiry (?)
context_page_description: A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, 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 through employment without government subsidies. Due to the flexible nature of the term "needs", there is not one universally accepted measure of what a living wage is and as such it varies by location and household type. A related concept is that of a family wage – one sufficient to not only support oneself, but also to raise a family.
  The living wage differs from the minimum wage in that the latter can fail to meet the requirements for a basic quality of life which leaves the worker to rely on government programs for additional income. Living wages have typically only been adopted in municipalities. In economic terms, the living wage is similar to the minimum wage as it is a price floor for labor. It thus differs from the national minimum wage in that it is not set according to a legal threshold.
context_section_description: In Australia, the 1907 Harvester Judgement ruled that an employer was obliged to pay his employees a wage that guaranteed them a standard of living which was reasonable for "a human being in a civilised community" to live in "frugal comfort estimated by current... standards," regardless of the employer's capacity to pay. Justice H. B. Higgins established a wage of 7/- (7 shillings) per day or 42/- per week as a 'fair and reasonable' minimum wage for unskilled workers.
caption: Living wage inquiry in Sydney, Australia. (1935)
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