A Living Wage

You might see a raft of stories out today regarding the latest report from KPMG on the number of people within the UK who would appear to be earning below the identified 'Living Wage' in the UK. The rate of this living wage is higher than the statutory minimum wage (£7.30 per hour for those outside of London compared to standard £6.19 per hour n.m.w.) and attempts to set a rate at which people can earn enough to pay for the basic cost of living. The report states that approximately 1 in 5 people in the UK earn below the Living Wage (with the situation varying around the UK) and this is an increase on the number who were below the threshold during the last audit. The Independent includes the image above and gives a brief (if slightly politicised) summary. The Living Wage and National Minimum wage are good indicators for students giving responses on relative poverty. A good exercise might be to ask students why there is a difference between the two standards or use the information and graphics here to determine why there are wage differentials for the jobs outlined above. If you want to give your students some extended work you might like to get them to read the document below which attempts to explain and give rationales with regards to the calculation of the Living Wage or get them to have a look at the Living Wage website which shows what the campaign is trying to achieve.living_wage_detail_and_rationale.pdf