During the past two years, a new trend in wage legislation has begun to emerge in cities across the United States. Responding to Washington’s refusal to keep the federal minimum wage at a meaningful level, cities have started to enact their own minimum wage laws. These municipal laws require local businesses to pay a minimum wage higher than the applicable state and federal minimum wages. Distinct from local “living wage” laws—which also require higher minimum wages but generally extend only to businesses that receive contracts or subsidies from cities—these broader local wage laws raise the minimum wage for larger numbers of local workers and businesses. This article analyzes this new trend, providing background on the city minimum wage laws that have been enacted, explaining how they reflect a growing trend by state and local lawmakers across the country to promote raising the minimum wage, and summarizing analyses of the economic impact of such measures.
