Amanda Wilson

SLA 150 45
October 9, 2023
Living/Working Wages in Catholicism
 The minimum wage in America is slowly rising while the cost of living is rising
exponentially. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. Each state has the right to
make their own minimum wage, and most do. There are currently 30 states that choose to have
their own minimum wage. The current minimum wage in Maryland is $13.25, and in
Pennsylvania it is the federal level of $7.25. The definition for minimum wage is “the base-level
amount employees must receive for full or part-time work.” (Indeed 2023) The idea of minimum
wage was to set a baseline or a minimum amount a person can be paid per hour based on a 40-
hour work week to afford to be able to live their lives.
If someone is making $7.25 per hour at 40 hours per week that would be $15,080 per
year in income before taxes came out. If someone lived in Pennsylvania and made $7.25 per hour
or $1,160 per month (pre-taxes) they would not be able to afford rent in an average rental.
According to the PA Department of Community and Economic Development for a household of
1 if you make $29,160 or less per year you are considered to be experiencing poverty. So then
my question is how can the minimum wage of $7.25 be considered a living wage if the state of
Pennsylvania deems you to be living in poverty of you are making less than $29,160 per year.
According to SoFi the average cost of living in the state of Pennsylvania is $49,040. They
say that the average person will spend $7,886 on housing and utilities, $8,641 on healthcare,
$3,491 on food and beverage (not in restaurants), $1,240 on Gas/Energy, and $27,782 on other
personal expenditures like car payments or insurance, clothing, internet and phone. These
average numbers are not possible for the person making $15,080 per year. That person should be
eligible for food stamps, but it is unknown how much they would receive, and they may receive
a discount on Medicaid insurance or get it for free. That will save the person many costs in the
year but they will still have to pay for some food and drinks, gas and energy, car payments,
phone and internet and many other things.
In many states they are working to raise the federal and state minimum wage to help
these people out. There is no way that the people living with these wages can afford to live alone,
have children, or afford food all at the same time. If they were in a state like Maryland that
person may receive $20 per month in food stamps maximum. When minimum wages were
considered, the cost of living was not as high as it is now. If there was a way to level the playing
fields and make cost of living go down or make minimum wage go up then there would be less
people in poverty, and less people that needed to use federally funded programs like food stamps
and Medicaid. More people could afford to have children and support their communities in other
ways. I believe that if we were able to do this that there would be a large positive impact on the
world.
Because the federal minimum wage has stayed so low since 2009 there are many
organizations that are trying to raise it. One of the movements is called The Raise The Wage Act
of 2023. This act is working to try and raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour by the
year 2028. The plan of this act is to try to get the federal minimum wage raised to $9.50 by the
end of this year and then gradually raise it every year until it hits $17 in 2028. Once it did hit $17
their goal would be to raise it a little every year to keep the pace of the median wage. The median
wage is the center number of all wages. Another goal of this act is to get rid of the even lower
minimum wage for workers who receive tips. This wage is currently $2.13 and has been that low
since 1991.
The Raise the Wage Act came about after the Fight for $15 and a union worked to raise
the minimum wage. Many states have come close or surpassed this wage already. EPI says that
“A $17 minimum wage by 2028 would generate $86 billion in higher wages for workers and
would also benefit communities across the country. Because underpaid workers spend much of
their extra earnings, this injection of wages will help stimulate the economy and spur greater
business activity and job growth.” This would affect the common good of justice because by
helping increase the minimum wage and helping these people who are struggling, if they had the
money to afford to go out and do things, they would then be able to go out and do them. If they
were able to afford it they could go visit local businesses, and shop or go visit more areas and
help other communities with their tourism and development. All together I believe that this
relates to the common good and can help others in more ways than just paying people more
money.
Living and minimum wage have been talked about a lot in the press, but also by Catholic
priests as well. Pope Pius XI was quoted saying “Every effort must be made that fathers of
families receive a wage sufficient to meet adequately normal domestic needs.” The church has
talked about how each person should receive a fair living wage to make up for the days work that
they give. The church defines a living wage as something that keeps you able to live in
"reasonable comfort." This means that you should be able to still have money left over after you
pay bills, and purchase necessities. It also means you should be able to save money for
retirement. When someone is making a lower minimum wage and paying higher amounts of
money for living expenses, they are not able to live in reasonable comfort by any means. These
people have to worry about running out of money, or if someone breaks down how will they pay
to fix it.
In a quote from Catechism of the Catholic Church (The Vatican, 1992 #2434) they said
“A just wage is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave injustice. In
determining fair pay, both the needs and the contributions of each person must be taken into
account.” This all relates back to Catholic Social teaching and the common good. Pope Leo XIII
talked about how a living wage should be enough to provide the basic expenses for a family.
There have been many different Popes and people of influence in the Catholic church talking
about this over the years to argue that it has been something important to them.
 References:

Catechism of Catholic Social Teaching - On Just Wages.

(n.d.). https://sites.google.com/view/catholic-social-teaching/on-just-wages#

Income Eligibility - PA Department of Community & Economic Development. (2023, May 30).
PA Department of Community & Economic Development. https://dced.pa.gov/housing-
and-development/weatherization/income-eligibility/

Cost of Living in Pennsylvania. (23 C.E., March). SoFi. Retrieved October 12, 2023,
from https://www.sofi.com/cost-of-living-in-pennsylvania/

Why the U.S. needs at least a $17 minimum wage: How the Raise the Wage Act would benefit
U.S. workers, their families, and entire communities. (n.d.). Economic Policy
Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/why-17-minimum-wage/#:~:text=The
%20Raise%20the%20Wage%20Act%20of%202023%20would%20gradually%20raise,
%2417%20an%20hour%20in%202028.
Wages. (n.d.). Catholic Charities Twin
Cities. https://cctwincities.org/education-advocacy/catholic-social-teaching/notable-
quotations/wages/#:~:text=Centesimus%20Annus%20(“The%20Hundredth
%20Year,must%20be%20taken%20into%20account.