Living Wage Evidence

The Economic Impact of Local Living Wages

02/15/2006

Jeff Chapman and Jeff Thompson. Economic Policy Institute. February 15, 2006.

“The economic impact of local living wages” is a survey of living wage studies. Chapman and Thompson show that the cost of living wage laws is “consistently overestimated”, actual costs were usually about one-tenth of one percent of a city’s overall budget.

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Examining the Evidence: The Impact of the Los Angeles Living Wage Ordinance on Workers and Employers

01/01/2006

David Fairris, David Runsten, Carolina Briones, and Jessica Goodheart. Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. 2009.

“Examining the Evidence: The Impact of the Los Angeles Living Wage Ordinance On Workers and Employers” finds that the LA living wage ordinance brought a pay raise to 10,000 workers, most of whom were poor. Only one percent of all affected jobs were lost, and many of the higher costs of the bill were balanced by reductions in turnover and absenteeism.  

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Living Wage Laws and Communities: Smarter Economic Development, Lower Than Expected Costs

11/01/2003

Brennan Center for Justice. Andrew J. Elmore. November 2003.

“Living Wage Laws and Communities: Smarter Economic Development, Lower Than Expected Costs,” by Andrew J. Elmore, finds that cities with living wage laws had “contract costs increased by less than 0.1% of the overall local budget.” Few local officials reported that the living wage laws drove away potential business investment.

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