Living Wage Laws: Worth the Effort? Almost 20 years ago a
“living wage” campaign by pastors and union organizers in
Baltimore caught the attention of activists around the country.
It looked like a way to address the fact that so many people
were working but were still poor. Living wage activists have
accomplished a lot since then, winning more than 125 living wage
ordinances in cities and counties, three city minimum wages, and
state and federal minimum wage increases. Eight states have
indexed their minimum wage to inflation because of activist
pressure, and campaigns to raise and index state minimums are
underway in 10 more states. Activists also created coalitions
that have helped unions organize and win better contracts.
They’ve supported city and state campaigns for paid sick days
and influenced the debate about who should benefit from economic
development. Yet the number of workers earning poverty wages
remains as high as ever. A quarter of all workers in 2009—about
35 million people—earned less than th