make a living vs subsist

make a living

verb
  • To manage to find enough food to survive. 

  • To earn enough income to support oneself and, if applicable, one's family. 

subsist

verb
  • To survive on a minimum of resources. 

  • To have ontological reality; to exist. 

  • To retain a certain state; to continue. 

How often have the words make a living and subsist occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )