Just Wages

Just Wages

A just wage can be defined in many different ways. Employers and employees often see a just wage as two completely different things. Many governments set minimum wage requirements to help protect their workers from receiving less than what they believe is a just wage. Throughout all of the guidelines set up from governments, the salaries of some employees still can be considered unjust.

Many human resource departments describe pay in strategic terms as, “the purpose of pay is to attract, reward, retain, and motive employees who best achieve the strategic goals of the organization (Alford 126).” In order for an employee to be motivated by their wage, they must be happy with the amount of money they are being paid. This would require both the employers, as well as the employees to agree upon a wage that seems fair to both parties.

We learn that through the work that we perform, we produce and unrepeatable imprint on the world. This imprint is a direct image of the creativity of God shown inside each and every person. Because of this no salary can compensate the act of human labor (Alford 128). We should not look at the salary we receive as an exchange, but instead look at the salary that we receive for the work we perform as a relationship between the employer and employee (Alford 128).

When looking at the factors of a just wage, we should ask ourselves three questions. Is it a living wage, does the salary earned by the employee meet all of their needs? Is it an equitable wage, does the salary help illustrate the employees contribution to the company? Is it a sustainable wage, does this wage help sustain a viable economic order?

A living wage should be able to provide for an employee to live their lives at a reasonable standard. It should take into account that each employee is a human being with a life and a personality that they must maintain. A wage should be able to provide food, clothing, housing, transportation, insurance,...