An Expert Study of Systemic Influences on Progress Towards Living Wages: A Key to Unlock the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere is Goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals the widespread payment of living wages as a minimum could substantially boost progress towards this development goal and others. Living wages, typically set higher than minimum wages, pay enough for workers to meet their needs and those of their families. Without living wages many workers earn poverty wages. Recognising renewed corporate and investor interest in living wages, this paper interrogates the logics and rationalities which shape discussions on living wages, drawing upon 31 semi-structured interviews with living wage professionals. Discourse analysis is used to identify the logics and rationalities which shape organisation-level progress towards living wages. Some logics, surrounding human rights, stakeholder capitalism, sustainable development, redistribution and social justice, encourage the implementation of living wages. Other logics, including shareholder capitalism, profit and mass consumerism, create a chilling effect on the living wages movement. At present, wages are the main mechanism for distributing money, so wage levels impact people's access to services and resources. The living wages agenda is progressing rapidly, comprising a 2024 International Labour Organization meeting of experts, corporate and investor commitments, worker demands, and the growing prevalence of geographically specific living wages calculations. It is therefore crucial that the logics and narratives underpinning decisions on pay are interrogated as these play a pivotal role in progress towards human rights, social justice and the Sustainable Development Goals.