Leo XIII on the Living Wage

With the election of our new Holy Father, Leo XIV, it’s worth taking a look at the contributions of the previous Pope to bear that name, Leo XIII.

Perhaps best known as an advocate for workers and the poor, his major work was Rerum novarum, a landmark encyclical on the rights and duties of working men.

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That encyclical has become so influential since its original publication over a century ago, it’s become a fixture of the Catholic Church’s social teaching:

The Church insists that all workers, in return for their labor, are entitled to a living wage. A living wage is a wage which will enable a well-conducted and thrifty workman to live in reasonable comfort. Hence, a living wage does not mean “just enough to keep alive on.” Leo XIII writes: “Wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner.” (Rerum Novarum, §45) Pius XI writes: “Every effort must be made that fathers of families receive a wage sufficient to meet adequately normal domestic needs.” (Quadragesimo Anno, §71) A living wage, therefore, means a wage sufficient to keep a man up to a standard of moderate comfort, or, in other words, a wage sufficient to support himself and his family in Christian decency. What size of family? An average family; that is, four or five children.

A few important notes here: The encyclicals cited here are exercises of the Papal Magisterium which, while not infallible definitions, nonetheless propose to settle moral disputes, and so bind all Catholics to give religious assent.

Note that nowhere does it say that every job must pay a living wage. The Church does insist that all workers have a right to receive a living wage. Those are two different ideas concerning different sides of the wage agreement.

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God does not command the impossible. The fact that murders occur no more invalidates the right to life enshrined in “Thou shalt not kill” than the existence of unjustly low-paying jobs invalidates the right to a living wage.

Now let’s take a look at another paragraph:

If an industry or business, through no fault of the employer, cannot bear the strain of paying a living wage, the latter is not bound to pay a wage which the business cannot afford. Neither is he bound to pay a full wage to workers in preference to allowing himself a moderate recompense for his own work. But, having taken moderate recompense to cover his needs and those of his family, he may not set aside any further profit until he has paid his workers the just minimum rate of the living wage. Pope Pius XI writes: “Let employers and employed join in plans and efforts to overcome all difficulties and obstacles, and let them be aided in this wholesome endeavor by the wise measures of the public authority. … In the last extreme, counsel must be taken whether the business can continue, or whether some other provision should be made for the workers.” (Quadragesimo Anno, §73)

Since every worker has the right to a living wage, and the boss is also a worker, employers have the same right, too. The Church acknowledges that the world is fallen, and men’s failure to abide by the universal destination of goods leads to wealth inequality, which can mean that some businesses can’t afford to pay living wages. But in that case, we don’t throw out Church teaching as a dead letter, we work to repair the social disorders that deny those companies the ability to pay just wages.

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Again, we don’t call the 5th and 7th Commandments “worthless” even though no society in history has yet eradicated murder and theft. Instead we try to make laws and pass initiatives to address the root causes of those injustices. So it’s rather a double standard to dismiss Church teaching on the living wage because some businesses pay unjust wages.

And on a purely economic note, with corporate profits nearing all-time highs while wages have only grown at 1/4 the rate of worker productivity, it’s hard to make the case that corporations can’t afford to pay their workers more.

It remains to be scene how the new Pope’s reign may resemble that of his namesake. But if His Holiness can move international corporations to start compensating their employees more justly, Millennials and Zoomers may get some modicum of relief from the financial woes that beset them in particular.

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