Living Wage
Living wage ordinances typically set a wage above the federal minimum wage, but they only apply to businesses that service receive state contracts or recieve assisstance from the government. Living wage policies are meant to ensure that workers recieve enough income to secure basic amoynts of food shelter, transport, medical needs and other necessities.
Commentary
Cry Wolf Quotes
…imposing this mandated wage is a dagger in the heart of job creation….If its approved, Detroit can kiss any hope of renaissance goodbye.
Unfortunately, living wage laws may have an unintended consequence of causing low-wage workers to be replaced by higher skilled, more educated workers. Living wage ordinances hit hardest at new entrants to the labor force.
Living wage proposals are economically unfair because they change the basis on which our economy operates. Instead of allowing the market forces to determine pay, living wages put the interests of employees above all other consideration…and they base wages on what the worker wants instead of on the value of work performed.
Why, then, would [the Boston City Council] threaten to drive away businesses by signing on to a murky, unpredictable, and divisive ordinance that requires employers and their subcontractors to open their books, including wages, deductions, and fringe benefits, to all "applicable" city departments? The Internal Revenue Service and the state Department of Revenue are required to keep such information confidential. The city ordinance requires it to be made public, placing businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
Evidence
-
The Economic Impact of Local Living Wages
The Economic Policy Institute finds that the costs of living wage ordinances are often overestimated.
-
Examining the Evidence: The Impact of the Los Angeles Living Wage Ordinance on Workers and Employers
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy: The LA living wage ordinance brought a pay raise to 10,000 workers, most of whom were poor.
Backgrounders & Briefs
Living Wage Policy Brief: Stephanie Luce
Living wage ordinances have helped thousands of workers and tiresome cry wolf claims are wrong.
