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Do Living Wage Ordinances Reduce Urban Poverty?

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  • David Neumark
  • Scott Adams

Abstract

Living wage ordinances typically mandate that businesses under contract with a city or, in some cases, receiving assistance from a city, must pay their workers a wage sufficient to support a family financially. We estimate the effects of these ordinances on wages, hours, and employment in cities that have adopted such legislation. We then examine the effects of these laws on poverty. Our findings indicate that living wage ordinances boost wages of low-wage workers. Moreover, we find a moderate negative employment effect. Finally, some of the evidence suggests that living wages achieve modest reductions in urban poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • David Neumark & Scott Adams, 2003. "Do Living Wage Ordinances Reduce Urban Poverty?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:38:y:2003:i:3:p490-521
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    8. David Neumark & DMark Schweitzer & DaWilliam Wascher, 2004. "Minimum Wage Effects throughout the Wage Distribution," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(2).
    9. David Neumark & William Wascher, 2002. "Do Minimum Wages Fight Poverty?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 315-333, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. David Neumark & Matthew Thompson & Francesco Brindisi & Leslie Koyle & Clayton Reck, 2013. "Simulating the Economic Impacts of Living Wage Mandates Using New Public and Administrative Data," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 27(4), pages 271-283, November.
    2. Neumark, David & Thompson, Matthew & Brindisi, Francesco & Koyle, Leslie & Reck, Clayton, 2012. "Simulating the Economic Impacts of Living Wage Mandates Using New Public and Administrative Data: Evidence for New York City," IZA Discussion Papers 7113, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. David Neumark & Matthew Thompson & Leslie Koyle, 2012. "The effects of living wage laws on low-wage workers and low-income families: What do we know now?," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-34, December.
    4. Mark D. Brenner, 2004. "The Economic Impact of Living Wage Ordinances," Working Papers wp80, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    5. Fone, Zachary S. & Sabia, Joseph J. & Cesur, Resul, 2023. "The unintended effects of minimum wage increases on crime," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    6. Adams, Scott & Neumark, David, 2005. "The effects of living wage laws: Evidence from failed and derailed living wage campaigns," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 177-202, September.
    7. Scott Adams & David Neumark, 2004. "When Do Living Wages Bite?," NBER Working Papers 10561, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Alexandros Karakitsios & Manos Matsaganis, 2018. "Minimum Wage Effects on Poverty and Inequality," DEOS Working Papers 1801, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    9. David Neumark, 2004. "Living Wages: Protection for or Protection from Low-Wage Workers?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(1), pages 27-51, October.
    10. Scott Adams & David Neumark, 2004. "The Economic Effects of Living Wage Laws: A Provisional Review," NBER Working Papers 10562, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Brian Linneker & Jane Wills, 2016. "The London living wage and in-work poverty reduction: Impacts on employers and workers," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(5), pages 759-776, August.
    12. Ahn, Tom, 2011. "Distributional impacts of a local living wage increase with ability sorting," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(3), pages 283-286, September.
    13. Scott Adams & David Neumark, 2005. "Living Wage Effects: New and Improved Evidence," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 19(1), pages 80-102, February.
    14. Datta, Nikhil & Machin, Stephen, 2024. "Government Contracting and Living Wages > Minimum Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 17117, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Marchand, J. & Smeeding, T., 2016. "Poverty and Aging," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 905-950, Elsevier.
      • Marchand, Joseph & Smeeding, Timothy, 2016. "Poverty and Aging," Working Papers 2016-11, University of Alberta, Department of Economics, revised 20 Nov 2016.
    16. Daniel Fairchild, 2004. "Does the minimum wage help the poor?," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 31-42, September.
    17. David Neumark & Daiji Kawaguchi, 2001. "Attrition Bias in Economic Relationships Estimated with Matched CPS Files," NBER Working Papers 8663, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Biglan, Anthony & Cody, Christine, 2013. "Integrating the human sciences to evolve effective policies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(S), pages 152-162.
    19. Paul Schweinzer & Joanna K. Swaffield, 2014. "What’s in it for the firms? Living wage adoption as signal of ethical practice," Discussion Papers 14/21, Department of Economics, University of York.
    20. Jose Fernandez & Thomas Holman & John V. Pepper, 2014. "The Impact of Living-Wage Ordinances on Urban Crime," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 478-500, July.
    21. Zenia Kotval & Zeenat Kotval-K & Patricia Machemer & John Mullin, 2012. "A living wage standard: A case study of the US Virgin Islands," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(5-6), pages 541-557, August.

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    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General

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