Who calculates the living wage? How is it calculated?
Living wage estimates have been calculated by social and economic policy institutes such as the Tennessee Self-Sufficiency Standard, Wider Opportunities for Women, and the Economic Policy Institute. The living wage is usually determined either by consulting federal poverty guidelines for a certain family size (which use housing costs as a percentage of total costs) or by calculating the actual local cost of necessary goods: for example, what a full-time, year-round worker would need to earn hourly in order to support a family of four. These numbers do not assume that every worker supports a family of four; they merely provide a framework that helps cities and employers understand the actual needs of its community.
