Let us rephrase then: If a person cannot cover all of their non-discretionary expenses, plus a little left over, working 40 hours at a given wage, that wage is

Let us rephrase then: If a person cannot cover all of their non-discretionary expenses, plus a little left over, working 40 hours at a given wage, that wage is too low. Period. If the cheapest housing in your area requires you to work more than 40 hours a week at a given wage to cover rent, cheapest-possible food, least-possible utilities, and whatever the lowest cost option to commute to/from work is, the wage is too low. Period. It doesn't matter that people manage to not die making less than whatever the livable wage is, because the point is that paying someone less than that wage is unethical. If someone punches me in the face, the things I do to mitigate the damage don't somehow also mitigate the wrongness of punching me in the first place.