Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

subsistence wage

British  

noun

  1. the lowest wage upon which a worker and his family can survive

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She described the job as having changed in those years from a decent way to make a living to one that did not even offer a subsistence wage.

From The New Yorker • May 9, 2019

One’s ability to obtain a subsistence wage was directly tied to the amount of effort one applied to the work process.

From The Guardian • Nov. 20, 2018

But that's only the subsistence wage, to tide people over so they can put squab on the table and pay the housekeepers until the real money is doled out in annual bonuses.

From Time Magazine Archive

Adam Smith, Ricardo, held that the worker was forever doomed to a ''minimum subsistence wage.''

From Time Magazine Archive

They only give us a bare subsistence wage, and they live on the fat of the land.

From The Story of the Amulet by Nesbit, E. (Edith)