Living Wage Was a Revolutionary New Idea That Emerged During the Great Depression.

The first national living wage legislation was enacted by Congress in 1938 under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The living wage set a new hourly minimum wage standard that was adequate as a living wage for a family of four. The living wage is still a revolutionary idea even in the midst of the global economy of today.

The federal living wage reached its highest level in the early 1960s and has steadily declined in amount and dollar value since that time. The key idea was that a living wage should provide an income that could support a family of four. This actually provided a basic social safety net in a time of great economic need for millions of American workers and their families.

After WWII, labor unions grew in number and strength and had success in negotiating a living wage for workers. But growing inflation and gradual decline of union power beginning in the 1970s brought on a long and continual decline in the purchasing power of worker wages. By the 1980s the minimum wage was no longer a living wage.

The generally affluent economy and easy credit available in the 1990s hid the growing problem of declining income for hourly wage workers. The fact that the living wage was no longer working as intended was not generally recognized. This has become an urgent problem for the rapidly growing number of non-union workers. Even many two-income families have come to feel the pain of income stagnation and shrinking of the living wage.

Early in the twenty-first century, a variety of organizations across the nation began to work for increasing the minimum wage and a living wage. They rediscovered the meaning of the living wage. The book Journeys into Justice describes the successful collaboration of the Living Wage Campaign—Let Justice Roll—that has been able to effectively bring together over one hundred state, municipal, and national organizations to gain a substantial increase in the federal minimum wage. The goal is to once again secure an actual living wage for workers.

Want to learn more about the history and future of the living wage? Get your copy of Journeys into Justice today!