The Needs of the Low Paid. The Cunnigham Lecture Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia

My lecture is about the needs of the low paid as a criterion in wage determination. I am concerned about the meaning given to needs and the manner in which they affect wage outcomes. The central issue is this. Does a regard for the needs of the low paid lead simply to an endeavour to maintain and improve the relative incomes of low piad workers; or does it imply an attempt to identify needs and the cost of meeting them so as to establish some kind of benchmark of wage adequacy?