Living Wages and the Welfare State: The Anglo-American Social Model in Transition

Description

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.

Shaun Wilson is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University.

"The living wage movement is engaging millions around the world in the struggle for a fairer economy. Shaun Wilson's marvelous and timely book helps us understand the transformative power of this simple demand." Jim Stanford, Centre for Future Work