The Economic Impact of Local Living Wages

By Jeff Thompson and Jeff Chapman

The modern living wage movement was born in Baltimore in 1994, when the city passed an ordinance requiring firms to pay employees a rate above the minimum wage while working on city contracts.

Since then, over 120 communities have followed suit, some setting wage floors more than twice the federal minimum wage, and some requiring various benefits.

The astounding growth of the living wage movement has been a response to the predicament of Americans who work but are unable to make ends meet, as well as to the public policies contributing to the problem.

Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Briefing Paper #170