Living Wage

The concept of the “living wage” as perhaps a more appropriate policy in alleviating poverty surfaced in a couple of the articles.  I am attracted to this concept because it explicitly considers the family in determining adequate wage level to counter the disincentive in having children under our economic system. A professor at Penn Sate University, Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier, started a project that allows users to calculate the living wage of their home city/town.  The “Living Wage Calculator” for New York City is the link here, but you can also change the criteria for your own home city.  The broader project that this calculator originates from is called “Poverty in America”. 

I also found an article, “Do Living Wage Ordinances Reduce Urban Poverty?” (that can be accessed through CLIO) that showed how living wage policies in cities around the US modestly reduced poverty.