Download or read book How Living Wage Laws Affect Low wage Workers and Low income Families written by David Neumark and published by Public Policy Instit. of CA. This book was released on 2002 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Right to a Living Wage written by Matt Uhler and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2017-07-15 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the disappearance of well-paying jobs and the increasing cost of living, it’s becoming more and more difficult to stay afloat in the United States. Workers who earn the minimum wage often can’t afford the most basic needs. In response, more than 100 U.S. cities have issued living wage ordinances, requiring payments that allow workers to afford food, clothing, shelter, utilities, and healthcare. It may seem obvious that everyone wins with a living wage. But does paying out a living wage help or harm the economy? Should corporations be forced to pay them? What is society’s responsibility to its workers?

Download or read book Measuring the Impact of Living Wage Laws written by Mark D. Brenner and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Measuring the Impact of Living Wage Laws written by Mark D. Brenner and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), David Neumark (2002) finds that living wage laws have brought substantial wage increases for a high proportion of workers in cities that have passed these laws. He also finds that living wage laws significantly reduce employment opportunities for low-wage workers. We argue, first, that by truncating his sample to concentrate his analysis on low-wage workers, Neumark's analysis is vulnerable to sample selection bias, and that his results are not robust to alternative specifications that utilize quantile regression to avoid such selection bias. In addition, we argue that Neumark has erroneously utilized the CPS data set to derive these results. We show that, with respect to both wage and employment effects, Neumark's results are not robust to more accurate alternative classifications as to which workers are covered by living wage laws. We also show that the wage effects that Neumark observes for all U.S. cities with living wage laws can be more accurately explained as resulting from effects on sub-minimum wage workers in Los Angeles alone of a falling unemployment rate and rising minimum wage in that city.

Download or read book The Effects of Living Wage Laws on Low Wage Workers and Low Income Families written by David Neumark and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We provide updated evidence on the effects of living wage laws in U.S. cities, relative to the earlier research covering only the first six or seven years of existence of these laws. There are some challenges to updating the evidence, as the CPS data on which it relies changed geographic coding systems in the mid-2000s. The updated evidence is broadly consistent with the conclusions reached by prior research, including Holzer's (2008) review of that earlier evidence. Living wage laws reduce employment among the least-skilled workers they are intended to help. But they also increase wages for many of them. This implies that living wage laws generate both winners and losers among those affected by them. For broader living wage laws that cover recipients of business or financial assistance from cities, the net effects point to modest reductions in urban poverty.

Download or read book A Measure of Fairness written by Robert Pollin and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-05 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In early 2007, there were approximately 140 living wage ordinances in place throughout the United States. Communities around the country frequently debate new proposals of this sort. Additionally, as a result of ballot initiatives, twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia, representing nearly 70 percent of the total U.S. population, maintain minimum wage standards above those set by the federal minimum wage.In A Measure of Fairness, Robert Pollin, Mark Brenner, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, and Stephanie Luce assess how well living wage and minimum wage regulations in the United States serve the workers they are intended to help. Opponents of such measures assert that when faced with mandated increases in labor costs, businesses will either lay off workers, hire fewer low-wage employees in the future, replace low-credentialed workers with those having better qualifications or, finally, even relocate to avoid facing the increased costs being imposed on them.The authors give an overview of living wage and minimum wage implementation in Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut to show how these policies play out in the paychecks of workers, in the halls of legislature, and in business ledgers. Based on a decade of research, this volume concludes that living wage laws and minimum wage increases have been effective policy interventions capable of bringing significant, if modest, benefits to the people they were intended to help.

Download or read book What Works for Workers written by Stephanie Luce and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2014-01-31 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The majority of new jobs created in the United States today are low-wage jobs, and a fourth of the labor force earns no more than poverty-level wages. Policymakers and citizens alike agree that declining real wages and constrained spending among such a large segment of workers imperil economic prosperity and living standards for all Americans. Though many policies to assist low-wage workers have been proposed, there is little agreement across the political spectrum about which policies actually reduce poverty and raise income among the working poor. What Works for Workers provides a comprehensive analysis of policy measures designed to address the widening income gap in the United States. Featuring contributions from an eminent group of social scientists, What Works for Workers evaluates the most high-profile strategies for poverty reduction, including innovative “living wage” ordinances, education programs for African American youth, and better regulation of labor laws pertaining to immigrants. The contributors delve into an extensive body of scholarship on low-wage work to reveal a number of surprising findings. Richard Freeman suggests that labor unions, long assumed to be moribund, have a fighting chance to reclaim their historic redistributive role if they move beyond traditional collective bargaining and establish new ties with other community actors. John Schmitt predicts that the Affordable Care Act will substantially increase insurance coverage for low-wage workers, 38 percent of whom currently lack any kind of health insurance. Other contributors explore the shortcomings of popular solutions: Stephanie Luce shows that while living wage ordinances rarely lead to job losses, they have not yet covered most low-wage workers. And Jennifer Gordon corrects the notion that a path to legalization alone will fix the plight of immigrant workers. Without energetic regulatory enforcement, she argues, legalization may have limited impact on the exploitation of undocumented workers. Ruth Milkman and Eileen Appelbaum conclude with an analysis of California’s paid family leave program, a policy designed to benefit the working poor, who have few resources that allow them to take time off work to care for children or ill family members. Despite initial opposition, the paid leave program proved more acceptable than expected among employers and provided a much-needed system of wage replacement for low-income workers. In the wake of its success, the initiative has emerged as a useful blueprint for paid leave programs in other states. Alleviating the low-wage crisis will require a comprehensive set of programs rather than piecemeal interventions. With its rigorous analysis of what works and what doesn’t, What Works for Workers points the way toward effective reform. For social scientists, policymakers, and activists grappling with the practical realities of low-wage work, this book provides a valuable guide for narrowing the gap separating rich and poor.

Download or read book Living Wage Movements written by Deborah M. Figart and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-07-31 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living wage activism has spanned time and space, reaching across decades and national boundaries. Conditions generating living wage movements early in the twentieth century have resurfaced in the twenty-first century, only on a global scale: 'sweated' labour, macroeconomic instability, and job insecurity. Upon reviewing the empirical evidence, the book's contributors make strong cases both for and against living wage activism. The effective blend of historical, contemporary, and global perspectives provides opportunities for teachers, scholars, and activists to evaluate how we can address low pay at the organizational and macroeconomic levels.

Download or read book Living Wage Effects written by Scott J. Adams and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper explores the effects of living wages on low-wage workers and low-income families. First, we update our earlier analyses, using data for 1996-2002, and address a number of criticisms of those analyses. We confirm our earlier findings that business assistance living wage laws boost wages of the lowest-wage workers, at the cost of some disemployment, but on net reduce urban poverty. Second, we expand the analysis of distributional effects beyond looking just at the poverty threshold. We do not find that living wages increase the depth of poverty among families that remain poor, and we find that families somewhat below and somewhat above the poverty line are also helped by living wages. Finally, we suggest that the poverty reductions generated by living wages may stem from income gains for individuals with higher wages or skills who are nonetheless in poor families, rather than for the lowest-wage or lowest-skill individuals

Download or read book The Living Wage written by Robert Pollin and published by . This book was released on 2000-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive examination of the economic concept now being implemented across the nation with dramatic results.

Download or read book Working and Poor written by Rebecca M. Blank and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2007-01-09 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last three decades, large-scale economic developments, such as technological change, the decline in unionization, and changing skill requirements, have exacted their biggest toll on low-wage workers. These workers often possess few marketable skills and few resources with which to support themselves during periods of economic transition. In Working and Poor, a distinguished group of economists and policy experts, headlined by editors Rebecca Blank, Sheldon Danziger, and Robert Schoeni, examine how economic and policy changes over the last twenty-five years have affected the well-being of low-wage workers and their families. Working and Poor examines every facet of the economic well-being of less-skilled workers, from employment and earnings opportunities to consumption behavior and social assistance policies. Rebecca Blank and Heidi Schierholz document the different trends in work and wages among less-skilled women and men. Between 1979 and 2003, labor force participation rose rapidly for these women, along with more modest increases in wages, while among the men both employment and wages fell. David Card and John DiNardo review the evidence on how technological changes have affected less-skilled workers and conclude that the effect has been smaller than many observers claim. Philip Levine examines the effectiveness of the Unemployment Insurance program during recessions. He finds that the program's eligibility rules, which deny benefits to workers who have not met minimum earnings requirements, exclude the very people who require help most and should be adjusted to provide for those with the highest need. On the other hand, Therese J. McGuire and David F. Merriman show that government help remains a valuable source of support during economic downturns. They find that during the most recent recession in 2001, when state budgets were stretched thin, legislatures resisted political pressure to cut spending for the poor. Working and Poor provides a valuable analysis of the role that public policy changes can play in improving the plight of the working poor. A comprehensive analysis of trends over the last twenty-five years, this book provides an invaluable reference for the public discussion of work and poverty in America. A Volume in the National Poverty Center Series on Poverty and Public Policy

Download or read book The Social Cost of Low Wages written by Carla Cassandria Campbell and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: Living wage ordinances require city-contracted firms to pay their workers a wage that is set above the state's minimum wage. The first ordinance was implemented in Baltimore in 1994, in recognition that workers earning close to the minimum wage do not earn enough to be able to meet their basic needs and support their families. Community leaders in Baltimore began a living wage campaign to place pressure on firms to pay higher wages. They focused their efforts on city-contracted firms as they believed that firms receiving taxpayer dollars should be held accountable to the public. Since the enactment of Baltimore's Living Wage ordinance, over 120 municipalities across the United States have also implemented ordinances with the goal of reducing poverty levels. The economic impact of living wage laws is still not completely understood which has lead to the emergence of a field of living wage research. Living wage studies have primarily focused on the affects of living wage laws on economic indicators such as employment levels, wages, poverty rates, prices and business growth. To capture the affects of ordinances, researchers typically examine how firms and workers affected by living wage laws have faired compared to those who are unaffected. Other studies attempt to contrast the experiences of workers and employers within a city before and after an ordinance is implemented. However, there has been limited research on how low wages impact workers and have ripple affects on the economy. Although it is generally accepted that low wages can lead to higher poverty rates and can have adverse impacts on families and communities, these affects are not often measured in substantive ways. Developing research methods that lead to more concrete measurements of how families and communities are affected by low wages, can strengthen the living wage movement and help policymakers design more effective anti-poverty and living wage laws. Additionally, measuring the cost of supporting poor working families through the use of public subsidies can serve to measure the magnitude of externalities. The purpose of this thesis is to expand the analytical scope of living wage research by illustrating the importance of analyzing the effects of low wages on families and taxpayers. To accomplish this, I conduct a qualitative study of two poor working families to depict how their lives are impacted by low wages. I then discuss how data on working families using public subsidies can be collected and reported for the purposes of living wage research. It is important to note that the research presented in this report is not necessarily intended to advocate for living wage laws but to strengthen and expand the scope of living wage research so that living wage laws can be more accurately evaluated. Overview of Chapters: -- In chapter one, I first explain the Boston Living Wage Ordinance in order to provide an example of the policy structure of living wage ordinances. Additionally, I discuss the scope of living wage studies and discuss the importance of measuring externalities. -- The second chapter explains the methodological approach that was used to select participants and conduct interviews. -- The third chapter describes who are Boston's low wage workers and the role they play in the economy and the occupations and industries that are most affected by low wages. -- Chapter four provides a summary of the qualitative study conducted with two low wage workers and how they manage to support their families on a limited income. -- In chapter five, an in-depth analysis of their budget is conducted to determine the costs of the public subsidies they use and how they manage to reduce their household expenditures. -- The sixth chapter discusses how researchers and administer of public subsidies can better track and report data that demonstrates the magnitude of worker dependency on public subsidies and its implication for tax payers. -- The final chapter focuses on key findings of this study and recommendations for the future.

Download or read book Our Kids written by Robert D. Putnam and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The bestselling author of Bowling Alone offers [an] ... examination of the American Dream in crisis--how and why opportunities for upward mobility are diminishing, jeopardizing the prospects of an ever larger segment of Americans"--

Download or read book Living Wages written by David Neumark and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Welfare the Working Poor and Labor written by Louise B. Simmons and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-06-11 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume analyses poverty and welfare reform within a context of low-wage work and the contours of the labour market that welfare recipients are entering. It aims to bring labour into the discussion of welfare reform and creates a bridge between the domains of labour and welfare.

Download or read book Low Wage Work in the Wealthy World written by Jerome Gautie and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As global flows of goods, capital, information, and people accelerate competitive pressure on businesses throughout the industrialized world, firms have responded by reorganizing work in a variety of efforts to improve efficiency and cut costs. In the United States, where minimum wages are low, unions are weak, and immigrants are numerous, this has often lead to declining wages, increased job insecurity, and deteriorating working conditions for workers with little bargaining power in the lower tiers of the labor market. Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World builds on an earlier Russell Sage Foundation study (Low-Wage America) to compare the plight of low-wage workers in the United States to five European countries—Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom—where wage supports, worker protections, and social benefits have generally been stronger. By examining low-wage jobs in systematic case studies across five industries, this groundbreaking international study goes well beyond standard statistics to reveal national differences in the quality of low-wage work and the well being of low-wage workers. The United States has a high percentage of low-wage workers—nearly three times more than Denmark and twice more than France. Since the early 1990s, however, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany have all seen substantial increases in low-wage jobs. While these jobs often entail much the same drudgery in Europe and the United States, quality of life for low-wage workers varies substantially across countries. The authors focus their analysis on the "inclusiveness" of each country's industrial relations system, including national collective bargaining agreements and minimum-wage laws, and the generosity of social benefits such as health insurance, pensions, family leave, and paid vacation time—which together sustain a significantly higher quality of life for low-wage workers in some countries. Investigating conditions in retail sales, hospitals, food processing, hotels, and call centers, the book's industry case studies shed new light on how national institutions influence the way employers organize work and shape the quality of low-wage jobs. A telling example: in the United States and several European nations, wages and working conditions of front-line workers in meat processing plants are deteriorating as large retailers put severe pressure on prices, and firms respond by employing low-wage immigrant labor. But in Denmark, where unions are strong, and, to a lesser extent, in France, where the statutory minimum wage is high, the low-wage path is blocked, and firms have opted instead to invest more heavily in automation to raise productivity, improve product quality, and sustain higher wages. However, as Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World also shows, the European nations' higher level of inclusiveness is increasingly at risk. "Exit options," both formal and informal, have emerged to give employers ways around national wage supports and collectively bargained agreements. For some jobs, such as room cleaners in hotels, stronger labor relations systems in Europe have not had much impact on the quality of work. Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World offers an analysis of low-wage work in Europe and the United States based on concrete, detailed, and systematic contrasts. Its revealing case studies not only provide a human context but also vividly remind us that the quality and incidence of low-wage work is more a matter of national choice than economic necessity and that government policies and business practices have inevitable consequences for the quality of workers' lives. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Case Studies of Job Quality in Advanced Economies

Download or read book Minimum Wages written by David Neumark and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive review of evidence on the effect of minimum wages on employment, skills, wage and income distributions, and longer-term labor market outcomes concludes that the minimum wage is not a good policy tool.