l companies are bringing employment to unemployed workers is applauded. However, these workers still routinely live in abject squalor. What seems to have been forgotten are the basic principles of human rights. Wages should be high enough for people to afford housing, food, clothing, medical care, and other necessities of life. People who are not able to work should be able to have a sustainable income to afford housing, food, clothing, medical care, and other necessities of life.
             This is where the Universal Living Wage formula comes into play. This formula ensures that if an employee works a standard number of hours, that employee should be able to afford the basic life-sustaining necessities, which consist of food, clothing, shelter, and access to medical care. This is consistent with the United Nation's document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which identifies these life-sustaining necessities as "definitive components of the right to a minimum standard of living and dignity for every nation/state." Affording basic food, clothing, shelter, and access to health care is the core principle of the Universal Living Wage. (Universal Living Wage, 2004)
             In the 1960s during the Johnson administration, a political decision was made to choose food as the base standard because the "war on poverty" was aimed at ending hunger in Appalachia. The food staples: meat, bread, and potatoes were literally placed in a basket. Their cost was multiplied by three and then multiplied by the number of people in the household. This made up the Federal Poverty Guideline that is still used today. (Fisher, 1992)
             However, it is important to note that, according to the Consumer Price Index, in 1963, food made up 23% of the monthly family budget and housing made up 29%. Today, food makes up only 16% whereas housing makes up 41%, more in some areas. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2004) Housing has become the most costly basic need in the United Sta...