How much is "fair"?

Fair Trade. It's a loaded catchphrase, declaring proudly that workers are being paid a fair wage. Well, exactly how fair is "fair"? One man's plenty is another man's pittance. Next time you're buying handmade goods from around the globe, I found a hot little tool that can help.

It's called the Fair Wage Guide. If you know some basic info about the piece and where it came from, you can learn how the price relates to the country's minimum wages and poverty lines. The info comes straight from the International Labor Organization. So you'll know whether the price is fair.

Just go to http://www.fairtradecalculator.org/ and try the Quick Wage Test.

The guide doesn't always work for every case (it asks some info that you may not know and doesn't account for skill level) but without anything else to go on, it's a workable shopping assistant that you've probably never had before.