Taking Stock of Living Wage Ordinances and Charting the Course for Future Research

While today's workers are facing rising housing costs, high inflation, and stagnating wages in many parts of the country, low-income workers have been especially hard hit. There has been a great deal of attention paid to increasing the federal minimum wage and to utilizing local affordable-housing bonds, but living wage ordinances are another, lesser-utilized tool available to municipalities trying to address poverty in their jurisdictions. Unfortunately, the literature discussing the possible benefits and costs of these wage ordinances on local governments and contractors is becoming increasingly outdated, and there is an immediate need to revisit the impact of these policies. The research note presented here provides a brief overview of the literature; a discussion of the complex legal landscape, including state preemption laws, that impacts local autonomy to adopt wage ordinances; and an inventory of wage policies from the ten largest municipalities in all fifty states. Finally, a renewed call for research is made.