Employer Opinions on Living Wage Initiatives*

Why do some contractors oppose living wage ordinances (LWOs) while others do not? Can local govern-ment programs that take a more voluntary approach to creating living wages succeed? This article begins to address these questions through surveys of two sets of employers in the same community: a group of con-tractors subject to an LWO and the other a group of businesses that voluntarily pledged to pay their workers a living wage. Results suggest that contractors oppose such ordinances either because they are incapable of realizing efficiency gains or for purely ideological reasons. Findings also suggest that the only companies to participate in more voluntary programs are those that were already paying their workers a living wage. Implications of these results for the living wage movement are discussed. Employer Opinions on Living Wage Initiatives Over 70 municipalities across the U.S. have adopted living wage ordinances, (LWOs) including such prominent places as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Baltimore. Living wage ordinances are founded on the principle that an honest day’s work should be rewarded by an honest day’s pay, and local tax dollars should not be used to finance poverty level jobs. These ordinances require, therefore, that workers paid from local government contracts be give