Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/931

EFFECT OF AN INCREASE IN THE LIVING WAGE 895 justments of existing awards, it is my disagreeable duty to point out some difficulties. I may begin with a brief explanation of the nature of the "living wage" as understood by the South AustraUan court. In the first place, while the "Hving wage" is a very modest interpretation of the needs of the average family, it is not, for such a family, a wage below which subsistence is impossible. Australian in- dustrial tribunals generally have recognized that, in a young, pros- perous and progressive community like Australia, the Uving wage should be somewhat above a bare subsistence level. It is, apart from such very abnormal conditions as may result from war, a declaration of what, in the opinion of the court, is necessary in order that an aver- age worker may be able at least to maintain the standard of living which generally prevails in Australia among unskilled workers. In the second place, when the court makes a declaration of the living wage which involves a substantial increase on a preexisting standard, it ought to allow a margin of safety in view of the practical certainty of some rise in the general level of prices. The reasons for doing so should be apparent. I have indicated them at length in my remarks on the "Theory of the Pernicious Circle" in The Carpenters and Joiners^ Case} It follows that, for a period at any rate, the living wage as declared by the court is anticipatory, and to that extent may admit of some sHght deduction when considering what is immediately necessary even for the maintenance of the Australian standard. (I must concede that the period is apt to be brief. This has been illustrated by a recent declaration of the living wage which I made last September. Judging from the latest figures of the Commonwealth statistician, the cost of living in this state has al- ready advanced since my judgment to an extent equal to the margin of safety which I had in mind at the time the living wage was de- clared. Some people appeared to hold that my estimate, at the time it was made, was excessive; but I cannot think that they had had much experience of workingmen's budgets, or of the peculiar difficulties with which an industrial judge has to deal. I am aware that grounds exist for hoping that the general level of prices may shortly decline. I can only trust that the hope may be realized.) In the third place, as I have pointed out in The Plumbers' Case,^ when I considered the question of wages in relation to the distri- bution of the national income, the judicial estimate even of the 1 1916-18, S. A. I. R. 170. 2 igi6-i8, S. A. I. R. 116.