EPI Research (Page 23 )

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  Correcting Part-time Misconceptions

  July 2000

  In the last few years union activists and some policy makers have increasingly portrayed part-time work as problematic. Phrases such as “dangerous part-time work,” “exploited part-time workers,” “non-standard workers,” and sound bites such as “part-time America doesn’t work,” are finding their way into mainstream media. Policy makers have described part-time work as “insecure,” and a result of “defective growth,” in proposed laws. These misconceptions could…

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  Rising Above The Minimum Wage

  January 2000

  Proponents of a higher minimum wage often imply that entry-level employees go years without a wage increase. Common sense suggests otherwise: the vast majority of those who start at the minimum wage do not remain there for long. In this report, William Even of Miami University, Ohio and David Macpherson of Florida State University provide a valuable in-depth analysis of how quickly most people move…

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  Economic Analysis of a Living Wage Ordinance

  July 1999

  “If you get all the facts, your judgement can be right; if you don’t get all the facts, it can’t be right.”
  — Bernard Baruch

  Decisions made without proper information risk serious consequences. Nowhere is this more true than in public policy. Nonetheless, city councils across the country are now making decisions on one of the hottest public policy concepts in memory —…

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  The Employment Impact of a Comprehensive Living Wage Law, Evidence from California

  July 1999

  Introduction
  The concept of a “living wage” is rapidly gaining support in city councils and county governments across the nation. In most areas, the idea behind this movement is that contractors who receive public funds as payment for their services should in turn be required to pay wage rates of at least $7.50 to $14.50 per hour — rates that are far higher than…

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  Effective Marginal Tax Rates on Low Income Households

  February 1999

  Major shifts in public policy invariably produce unintended consequences. Nowhere is this more clear than in policies affecting the working poor. In this paper, Professor Daniel Shaviro of New York University demonstrates that America’s working poor are subject to punishing marginal tax rate effects that can sap most — and, in some cases, all — of the higher earnings accompanying their wage increases. Professor Shaviro…

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  The Baltimore Living Wage Study: Omissions, Fabrications and Flaws

  October 1998

  In December 1994, Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke signed into law one of the nation’s first “living wage” ordinances. It required businesses with city contracts to pay their workers a minimum of $7.70 per hour by 1999, approximately 50% above the current federal minimum wage. Since then, “living wage” campaigns have sprung up around the country.

  In October 1996, the Preamble Center for Public Policy (“Preamble”)…