The Just Wage and the Two‐earner Family

Catholic social teaching has held that a just wage is one that provides adequate support for a family in which the husband is employed and the wife stays at home to care for the family. In the United States today, both parents are typically employed. Does each parent have a right to a wage sufficient to support a family? In societies in which couples make the choice that both shall be employed, justice does not require that the wage rate paid to any one worker be sufficient to support a family.