Conference Agenda

The living wage movement and its implications in the Global North have been well-captured in the existing literature. However, within the Global South, a scant number of research on the topic is available. Drawing on in-depth interviews with trade unionists, labour NGO activists, government officials, labour researchers, and through analysis of reports and legal documents, this research aims to fill this gap of knowledge by providing an example of how the living wage campaign earned its footstep in the wage policy debate in Vietnam. Taking a regulatory pluralism approach, this paper explains how a soft regulatory regime like the living wage campaign complements the minimum wage policy in Vietnam. With the endorsement of various actors, particularly the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), (the only umbrella trade union in Vietnam to date) and its research institutions, labour initiatives such as Fair Labor, and the alliance of labour non-government organisations – researchers, the living wage campaign has gained its popularity in Vietnam. In turn, it has helped to increase the VGCL’s legitimacy. Noticeably, the paper argues that the VGCL’s top-down endorsement of the living wage campaign and minimum wage policy echoes the workers’ bottom-up ‘bargaining by riot’ for better pay, contributing to the sustainability of the living wage campaign.

Introduction

In January 2023, South Africa's National Minimum Wage Commission called for public comment on its draft medium-term minimum wage target. It includes that income through work should provide a decent standard of living that is sufficient to the individual working for pay and their families, thus describing a living wage. A corresponding amount has not yet been set. Typically, living wages are calculated econometrically, based on the cost of a basket of goods determined by a group of ‘experts’, or statistically as a set percentile of the overall income distribution in a geographic area. These approaches are not grounded in theory and strip low-income earners of agency to decide for themselves what constitutes a decent life. Consequently, they follow a colonial approach of imposing onto the working poor what is good for 'them'. We thus developed a bottom-up method to determining living wages. Grounded in Sen's capability approach we assess how capable individuals themselves feel to realize the lives they value. After testing the approach in smaller, regionally confined samples initially, we asked the question:

Research question

What would a subjectively determined living wage range be for South Africa when considering a sample of working individuals across all South African provinces?

Methodology

Research assistants administered N = 1,566 surveys in on-on-one interactions with working individuals (Nov 2022 - Feb 2023). Through items developed by Teng-Calleja et al. (2019) we measured how important participants considered different life domains and as how attainable they saw each. From this data, we calculate capability-gap scores and depict them against individuals' self-reported income. A living wage is the amount of income from which on individuals can realize their capabilities.

Contribution to literature and findings

We will present the results to be analyzed by the end of March. We expect the results to replicate those of our initial studies. That is that it is possible to determine a living wage level drawing on (a) subjective data representing a careful operationalization of Sen's capability approach which (b) takes into account psychological science to measure constructs and that (c) the living wage level thus determined varies little regardless of region (e.g. urban vs rural). While our study seeks to propose a living wage benchmark for South Africa, we also support employers opting into living wages rather than being mandated to. This is as we consider a living wage as necessary, but not sufficient to afford individuals dignity at work.