Nearly 100 cities and local governments in the United States have passed living wage laws since the mid-1990s. Although the central goal of living wages is to reduce poverty, they may fail to do so because of disemployment effects. We summarize and critique the existing research on the effects...

Living wage campaigns have succeeded in about 100 jurisdictions in the United States, but they have also failed in numerous cities. Some were derailed by state legislative or judicial decisions, and others were voted down or vetoed at the city level. This paper exploits the information provided...

Many features of living wage laws may influence the strength of their effects on the wages and employment of low-skill workers. Echoing past research, we find that business assistance living wage laws generate stronger wage increases and employment reductions than do contractor-only laws....