The Things a Wage Does Not Measure
Article by Ayman Fouad Abdelgawad
A wage is a number attached to a relationship. It reflects the terms on which work is obtained. It cannot, by itself, settle every question about the work's social value.
Something can be difficult to price because its benefit is spread across many people, delayed, or taken for granted. Conversely, something can command substantial payment without making an equally substantial contribution to a good shared life.
This is not a proposal to replace every price with an official moral ranking. It is a reason to resist using income as a complete vocabulary of worth.
When a person's contribution is described only by what they earn, much of what they do can disappear. A fuller judgement asks what their activity sustains, who depends on it, and what would be missing if it stopped.