How can business alleviate poverty and promote living wages?

There's not a worker alive today who does not want to be paid fairly for their labor. But what is a fair, living wage? And, if most countries around the world have minimum wage laws, how is working in poverty still a reality for hundreds of millions of people? Episode 5 of this Forces for Good podcast series sees more guest speakers answer these questions and more, about how businesses can alleviate poverty and promote a living wage.

In our next #podcast episode, we speak to experts from B Lab, Fairtrade and SOKO — a women-led, people-first ethical jewelry brand and #BCorp — who help us understand the difference between a minimum and a living wage. We dig into profiles of workers and industries that are at the greatest risk of falling below a living wage standard and showcase businesses that are pushing for every worker throughout their entire supply chain to be fairly and ethically compensated. What constitutes a living wage? Who is most impacted by wage gaps? How can businesses provide a living wage across the global supply chain?

Following on from our work in this space earlier in the year, we are joined again by Bernard Gouw, Senior Manager of Social Standards at B Lab, Joanne Calabrese, CEO, of SOKO and Wilbert Flinterman, Senior Advisor, Workers’ Rights and Trade Union Relations for Fairtrade International to answer these questions for a new episode.

Listen to the episode now across all major platforms, or read the transcript on our blog.

Want to dig deeper?

Back in July we launched new living wage application guidance for all businesses. In this update, we shared how we now accept more benchmarks and have upgraded our verification approach to include a more deliberate use of third-party living wage accreditation and a closer look at how prevailing wages are calculated. Learn more.

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