Catholic Social Thought on Living Wages

There is a hundred year tradition within Catholic Social Thought that supports a living wage for workers within a modern economy.  The following are excerpts from papal encyclicals and other documents that illustrate that support.

Pope Leo XIII, "Rerum Novarum":  Among the most important duties of employers the principal one is to give every worker what is justly due him. Assuredly, to establish a rule of pay in accord with justice, many factors must be taken into account. But, in general, the rich and employers must remember that no laws, either human or divine, permit them for their own profit to oppress the needy and the wretched or to seek gain from another's want. To defraud anyone of the wage due him is a great crime that calls down avenging wrath from Heaven, "Behold, the wages of the laborers...which have been kept back by you unjustly, cry out: and their cry has entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts." (32)

Pope Pius XI, "Quadragesimo Anno": Every effort must therefore be made that fathers of families receive a wage large enough to meet ordinary family needs adequately. But if this cannot always be done under existing circumstances, social justice demands that changes be introduced as soon as possible whereby such a wage will be assured to every adult workingman (71).

Pope John XXIII, "Mater et Magistra":  The economic prosperity of any people is to be assessed not so much from the sum total of goods and wealth possessed as from the distribution of goods according to norms of justice (74).   The remuneration of work is not something that can be left to the laws of the marketplace; nor should it be a decision left to the will of the more powerful. It must be determined in accordance with justice and equity; which means that workers must be paid a wage which allows them to live a truly human life and to fulfill their family obligations in a worthy manner (71).

Pope John XXIII, "Pacem in Terris":  Furthermore--and this must be specially emphasized--the worker has a right to a wage determined according to criterions of justice, and sufficient, therefore, in proportion to the available resources, to give workers and their families a standard of living in keeping with the dignity of the human person (20).

Vatican II, "Gaudium et Spes":  Finally, remuneration for work should guarantee to individuals the capacity to provide a dignified livelihood for themselves and their family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level corresponding to their roles and productivity, having regard to the relevant economic factors in their employment, and the common good (67).

Pope John Paul II, "Laborum Exercens":  Hence in every case a just wage is the concrete means of verifying the justice of the whole socioeconomic system and, in any case, of checking that it is functioning justly. (89) Just remuneration for the work of an adult who is responsible for a family means remuneration which will suffice for establishing and properly maintaining a family and for providing security for its future (90).