What Is a Just Wage?

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Well, the Catechism says that they deserve a just wage based on their needs - yes, needs - and contributions. So there we have it.
 
The employer also has to be able to keep their business afloat.
 
Catholic employers following Church teaching would then need to factor that in as a business expense.

If you can’t afford to pay an employee a wage based on their needs and contributions, you can’t afford to run your business - at least not with the extra help.
 
Listen, there are some types of jobs that are best suited for students who don’t have a lot of financial responsibilities. These businesses depend on that kind of labor. They are not unjust if they are hiring just from that demographic.
 
What is to be done for those who have failed at life? What job is left for those who screwed up in high school and can only get those low skill job?
 
I think low skill jobs are the stepping stone. Some people use that to live on. Somewhere in their life they made a serious mistake.
 
So long as you are not dead, there is always ways to chance. We are not helpless victims of our circumstances.
 
They need money to support families through community college.

Remember, this is a thread about Catholic teaching. Nowhere in the Catechism does it say, “just wage unless somebody doesn’t deserve it because they should be working a better job.”
 
redbetta said:
These businesses depend on that kind of labor. They are not unjust if they are hiring just from that demographic.
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If you’re thinking of fast food, that’s primarily an adult workforce.

Even if you don’t consider it unjust, age discrimination is illegal.
 
Instead of hiking wages and, therefore, hiking the prices of everything else, how about we work towards training people for jobs that they can actually live on, so that we don’t punish small businesses?
 
That should change.

Kids are too busy with school and extracurriculars nowadays to go out and start getting real world experience. I wanted a job as a teen and my parents forbid me saying that school was my job. But I envy the practical experience a lot of my peers got. What people need to realize is that booksmarts ain’t everything.
 
Valid point. People who grew up fast probably already have families to care for. I’m imagining the demographic working low wage jobs come from poor families to begin with. These could be foster kids kicked out at 18
 
If minimum wage is the answer, why not make id $100 an hour?
The truth is minimum wages put people out-of-work.
 
blackforest said:
What would a just wage look like in our society? How should it be measured and calculated? What factors should go into how much it is?
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The Catechism is clear:
“Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good.”
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Obviously the actual number will vary from place to place, and society to society, but if someone is working full-time at an adult job, and cannot support him or herself and the family, in a way that permits that person to participate fully in the life of his or her community, then he or she is not being adequately or justly compensated.
 
redbetta said:
I wanted a job as a teen and my parents forbid me saying that school was my job.
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When I was in high school in the early 1970’s, I spent more time working than in school.

The expectations my parents had was the opposite
 
My parents are immigrants. A common immigrant strategy is to dote on their kids, exempt them from chores, so that they can focus all energy on school. I had friends in high school who did work, but they were all Americans.
 
Inisfallen said:
Obviously the actual number will vary from place to place, and society to society, but if someone is working full-time at an adult job, and cannot support him or herself and the family, in a way that permits that person to participate fully in the life of his or her community, then he or she is not being adequately or justly compensated.
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See the issue with this is when communitities mesh.

For instance, major cities. People want to live and work in a major city. Living costs skyrocket. Outside that city prices are lower-more land. other industries pop up that pay lower wages, but those wages aren’t enough to live in that community. So you have People in City A being paid a wage that’s enough to live in City A, but living far away in city C,D,E so as to have more land, have a bigger family, etc. City B gets some industries but those who work in city B could never live in city A. So you have people from city J living in often terrible conditions, far from the social supports in city A having none of the benefits.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
See the issue with this is when communitities mesh.

For instance, major cities. People want to live and work in a major city. Living costs skyrocket. Outside that city prices are lower-more land. other industries pop up that pay lower wages, but those wages aren’t enough to live in that community. So you have People in City A being paid a wage that’s enough to live in City A, but living far away in city C,D,E so as to have more land, have a bigger family, etc. City B gets some industries but those who work in city B could never live in city A. So you have people from city J living in often terrible conditions, far from the social supports in city A having none of the benefits.
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Yes indeed. It can get pretty complicated. However, the principle still stands.
 
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