These are stories Report on Business followed this week.
Follow Michael Babad and The Globe's Business Briefing on Twitter.
In signing what he called a "sweeping expansion" of New York City's Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act this week, Mayor Bill de Blasio was underscoring the mounting calls for a "living wage."
It's a campaign that spans many Western nations. In Canada, you could say it's in its infancy on a national basis, though clearly there's momentum.
"Employers increasingly are recognizing the benefits of paying a living wage," said Donna Jean Forster-Gill, project manager for Tamarack-An Institute for Community Engagement's Vibrant Communities Canada - Cities Reducing Poverty.
"I would say that we're in the position that we're learning a lot from the U.K. and the U.S., and from New Zealand."
A living wage goes beyond minimum wage, a hot-button issue on its own, particularly among smaller businesses, and is seen by some adversaries as a job-killer.
Indeed, says Living Wage Canada, it strikes a "higher test" based on what households need given local costs of living.
"The living wage is a call to private and public sector employees to pay wages to both direct and contract employees sufficient to provide the basics to families with children," the group says in its only definition.
"The living wage is calculated as the hourly rate at which a household can meet its basic needs, once government transfers have been added to the family's income and deductions have been subtracted," it adds, referring to things like the Ontario Child Benefit or day-long kindergarten.
"The living wage gets families out of severe financial stress by lifting them out of poverty and providing a basic level of economic security."
In New York's case, the expansion takes in employees of commercial tenants in projects that get more than $1-million (U.S.) in a city subsidy. Before now, the law sheltered just about 1,200 people, according to The New York Times, but is expected to cover some 18,000 over the next several years.
The living wage is also being raised to $13.13 an hour, from $11.90, and probably will climb to $15.22 by 2019, according to the city. The impact, the city says, will be to boost the lowest-paid workers to $27,310 a year from $16,640.
"We are raising the floor for working families struggling to get by," the mayor said in announcing the move earlier this week.
"With this order, thousands of breadwinners working at projects that will be supported by taxpayers will earn higher wages and be more likely to receive the kind of benefits critical to supporting a family."
The leaders in the field, Ms. Forster-Gill said, are the U.K., where proponents boast 900 employers on board, and New Zealand, while more than 150 U.S. municipalities have passed local laws.
In Canada, there are several local groups and a growing national base.
But unlike in the U.K., Ms. Forester-Gill said, you can't calculate a single living wage in Canada because the provinces and territories have different government transfers.
Vancity, for example, the British Columbia credit union that bills itself as one of the country's biggest "living wage employers," notes that metro Vancouver's living wage, pegged at $20.10 a hour, is almost double that of the province's general minimum wage of $10.25.
"As a living wage employer we are building wealth into the communities where we live and work," Vancity, which employs about 2,400 people, boasts on its website.
"It's one of the best local economic development strategies we can employ," it adds, urging other employers to join in the action.
The week in Business Briefing
- World risks new financial crisis amid 'poisonous' mix, major study warns
- How six (clueless) people signed away their first-born or pet for free WiFi
- Central banks stock up on Canadian dollars (Take that, mate)
- From Ebola to Putin: David Rosenberg's 15 triggers for market jitters
- After the crash: Even Ben Bernanke can't refinance his mortgage
The week in Streetwise (for subscribers)
- Tim Kiladze: Canada's online brokerage price war is on
- Boyd Erman: Who is the new TMX CEO?
- Tim Kiladze: OSFI unfazed by consolidation of banks and insurers
- Adrian Myers: Alberta court makes insider trading even harder to prove
- Boyd Erman: Who benefited from the big correction? Traders
The week in real estate
- Tara Perkins: What the TSX could tell us about Toronto condo sales
- Brent Jang: Entire city block in upscale Vancouver neighbourhood listed for $28-million
- Tara Perkins: Bank watchdog rejects interfering with lenders' mortgage business
- Carrie Tait: Sliding oil prices fail to dent Calgary property values and sales
- Tara Perkins: Real estate market on pace for hot start to autumn
The week in ROB Insight (for subscribers)
- Clément Gignac: Sinking loonie masking the dire state of Canada's competitiveness
- Sean Silcoff: Great-West points the way to Power Corp. dividend boost
- Kevin Carmichael: Could American really trade its way to 10 million jobs?
- Andrew Jackson: The depressing future of income inequality
- Brian Lee Crowley: Dissecting the false claims of 'monopoly'
The week's top news
- Carrie Tait: Encana acquires Texas-based Athlon Energy in $6-billion deal
- Greg Keenan: Ford adds 1,000 jobs at retooled Oakville plant
- Barrie McKenna: Key government suppliers face ban as strict anti-corruption rules take hold
- Marina Strauss: Sears to sell most of its Sears Canada stake through rights offering
- Kevin Carmichael: U.S. pumps out 248,000 jobs, jobless rate falls to six-year low
The week's must-reads
- Geoffrey York: Controversial South African defence entrepreneur basks in success
- David Parkinson: Debt, market turmoil threaten financial crisis
- Omar El Akkad: Netflix takes on Hollywood with 'Crouching Tiger' sequel
- Greg Keenan: Chrysler dealerships a hot commodity as economy booms in Saskatchewan
- Sean Silcoff: Dealing in death: Park Lawn's ambitious rise as funeral king