Living Wages and the Welfare State

In the 21st century, are living wages an unaffordable and unwieldy aspiration or a key progressive reform?

Demands for fair minimum incomes have dominated national debates amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This topical book addresses the rapidly shifting politics of minimum wages in Australia, the UK, Canada, the US, New Zealand and Ireland, where workfare has compelled many to find low-income work and where neoliberal thinking about minimum wages has prevailed.

In the 21st century, are living wages an unaffordable and unwieldy aspiration or a key progressive reform?

Demands for fair minimum incomes have dominated national debates amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This topical book addresses the rapidly shifting politics of minimum wages in Australia, the UK, Canada, the US, New Zealand and Ireland, where workfare has compelled many to find low-income work and where neoliberal thinking about minimum wages has prevailed.

Analysing minimum wage policies within a political-economy narrative, this innovative book offers an alternative to the Basic Income narrative and identifies the success of Living Wage campaigns as central to welfare state change.