Ferndale, Michigan, was not on the minds of most participants at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the IRRA. However, one month after the conference, Ferndale joined the list of over fifty cities, counties, and school boards from around the country to adopt a local “living wage” ordinance. While the details of the Ferndale ordinance differ slightly from those in other areas, there exists a common denominator among nearly all such initiatives. By and large, they require firms receiving public funds—either as city service contractors or financial assistance recipients—to pay their employees a wage high enough to lift a family above the poverty line. The goal of such measures is straightforward: to raise the living standards of the working poor. And while this goal is itself almost universally embraced, economists and other analysts sharply disagree as to whether living wage ordinances are an effective tool for achieving this end. The panel “Do Living Wage Laws Benefit Workers?” assembled a diverse group of scholars and activists to attempt to shed some light on these questions.This session could not have been more timely, as the city of New Orleans is slated to consider a similar “living wage” measure in 2002—a ballot initiative to establish a city-wide minimum wage one dollar above the federal minimum. To discuss these issues, session chair Robert Pollin, University of Massachusetts—Amherst, was joined by panelists David Neumark, Michigan State University, and Bruce Nissen, Florida International University, as well as discussants John DiNardo, University of California—Irvine, Wade Rathke, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), and Richard Toikka, Research Director of the Employment Policies Institute.
