subsistence wage

noun

No matter how much you give to the poor, everything except a bare subsistence wage will be taken from them again by force.

How can a man or woman engaged in such labour for ten hours a day at subsistence wage enjoy a fully developed life?

One of these figures was designed for a subsistence wage, the other for a “human needs” wage.

Also in most trades women and children are employed, to whom it is not even pretended that a subsistence wage is given.

The most that Trade Unionism has secured, or can ever hope to secure, for the workers, is a comfortable subsistence wage.

Browse