Here in Belgium, “living wage” is what we call the stipend basically everyone who has no alternative is entitled to. It’s not quite livable (1200 EUR for someone living alone), but the idea that not even a job would gibe you a living wage seems quite foreign. (We do have issues with there not being much of a financial incentive to work, especially if it also means you’d have to pay for childcare)
That’s how random samples work. A small number like that is enough to get a decent estimate of the entire population. Give ar take a percentage point if three. That is, if the sample is actually random. That’s actually near impossible to guarantee, as people who pick up their phones (or answer their door, or walk in the street and allow folks to ask them a question, or answer a letter) are different from those who don’t.