A "living wage" is somewhat of a misnomer because as other posters have stated it indicates zero surplus. Really, people have a "cost of living". Their wage on

A "living wage" is somewhat of a misnomer because as other posters have stated it indicates zero surplus. Really, people have a "cost of living". Their wage only has to be at least that if they have zero capital. The idea of basically everyone having zero capital as a default state is really kind of saddening. Not withstanding that, I find the 'living wage' discussion centres around what people get for the minimum wage e.g. can they afford a small room, a studio apartment, a small house, etc. Really it makes more sense to look at the absolute minimum living conditions and whether they have any surplus that will give them future negotiating power, or the ability to take time off work, etc. It doesn't have to be that much, if you can live on 15K then on 22.5K you can bank half a year's expenses per year.