ConversationB: Fair Wages. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (enforced by EEOC) prohibits pay discrimination on the basis of sex. State provisions and qualifications have been made to avoid a loophole in the law, namely that since it requires equal pay for thesamejob, employers need only change a job title to justify inequitable wages.Hawai'i's statute regarding equal pay addresses this (in red).

Haw. Rev. St. Section 378-2.3 - Equal pay; sex discrimination(a) No employer shall discriminate between employees because of sex, by paying wages to employees in an establishment at a rate less than the rate at which the employer pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in the establishment for equal work onjobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and that are performed under similar working conditions.

Preventing gender discrimination is not the only issue relevant in the quest for fair wages. Take, for example, the followingrough estimate of minimum wage possibilities in Hilo, Hawai'i:

Hawai'i's minimum wage is $12per hour. That amounts to $480per 40 hour week. This amounts to $1920per 4 weeks.After a conservative room rental in Hilo of $800 per month, the total for four weeks comes to $1120. Add in a $25daily food budget ($700), and the total drops to $420. After a prepaid phone bill of $25, this drops to $395. After minimum coveragecar insurance ($30 per month), this drops to $365. After driving 10 miles per day for gas at around $5 per gallonwith a fuel efficiency of 20miles per gallon($70), that leaves a minimum wage worker with $295every four weeks. This is all assuming no taxes paid, nocar payments, no medical bills, no non-essential monthly memberships, etc.

"Fairwage"is a phrase embedded with ethical value. The very addition of the adjective 'fair' adds a component to the issue that is ethical in nature. With respect to products, we might say that an item is worth what a customer pay for it.Does the same analysis follow for jobs? In other words, is a job worth what someone will take in wages to complete it?Openly discuss what interests you about fairness in wages and related issues (equal pay for similar work, minimum wage pros and cons, the ethics of taking a job which is less than one is worth, etc.).