Living Wage Laws
As the value of the federal minimum wage has eroded, cities across the country have enacted living wage laws to begin restoring the wage floor at the local level. Living wage laws establish higher minimum wages for businesses that receive contracts or subsidies from local governments. They provide a practical way for cities to ensure that public dollars generate quality jobs for local residents and to signal the importance of raising the minimum wage.
With wage rates ranging from $9 to $15 per hour, living wage laws raise the minimum wage closer to a level that allows low-income workers to meet their families' basic needs. Most living wage laws also create incentives for employers to provide health care by providing wage credits for employers who do so.
The Brennan Center has supported this movement with legal and technical assistance including:
- Providing legal support to dozens of living wage campaigns in cities ranging from New York to Atlanta to Sacramento.
- Helping defend and encourage enforcement of living wage laws through litigation.
- Developing a model living wage law as a resource for local policymakers and advocates.
- Publishing a report examining the impact of living wage laws on city budgets, and another report projecting the effects of the New York City Living Wage Law for the city and its businesses and working families.
- Since 1994, more than 140 communities across the United States have enacted living wage laws. Living wage laws have also paved the way for broader citywide and statewide initiatives to raise the minimum wage for all low-wage workers.