"Living wage" assumes you're the head of a household, so it's a pretty incoherent idea applied to just anyone. You can live on pretty much anything as long as a

"Living wage" assumes you're the head of a household, so it's a pretty incoherent idea applied to just anyone. You can live on pretty much anything as long as another member of the household can supply the rest. Minimum wage increases generally do not negatively affect employment, but if you set the minimum wage high enough to be a head of household "living wage", it certainly would make people unemployed. Or instead we could pay people welfare benefits and support them that way.