The Effects of Living Wage Laws on Low-Wage Workers and Low-Income Families: What Do We Know Now?

David Neumark, Matthew Thompson () and Leslie Koyle ()
Additional contact information
Matthew Thompson: Charles River Associates
Leslie Koyle: Charles River Associates

No 7114, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: poverty; employment; wages; living wage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2012-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme, nep-lma, nep-ltv and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Published - published in: IZA Journal of Labor Policy, 2012, 1:11

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Journal Article: The effects of living wage laws on low-wage workers and low-income families: What do we know now? (2012)
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