A living wage should be based on the pay taken home at the end of the week, not the hourly wage. Too many companies, primarily service and retail take advantage of the work force by only granting 20-30 hours week of employment. This policy has been exasperated by the health care threshold of 30 hours per week. Currently, employees must find a way to have multiple jobs to fill the number of hours necessary to survive the poverty level.
My proposal would set a higher minimum wage based on the number of hours worked. As an example, less than 20 hours $13/hour, 20-29 hours, $12/hour, 30-39 hours $11/hour, 40+ hours would be $10/hour.
Companies would be incentivized to provide enough hours to employees, enabling a living "take home" wage.