The objective of this article is to understand the
main components of living wage. The assessment
of the determination of wage through the market
mechanism is first discussed. It is argued that
the valuation of living wage via the labor market
mechanism alone is not sufficient. Thus, the
estimation of living wage needs to take into account
religious and cultural elements since living wage
components include the normative understanding
of such concepts as fair wage, equitable wage,
deserving wage and decent wage. At the same time,
the estimation of living wage requires consultation
and feedback from employers, workers, labour
union and policy-makers. Issues pertaining to the
implementation of living wage are also discussed in
this article.