Report How Living Wage Laws Affect Low-Wage Workers and Low-Income Families By David Neumark Mar 1, 2002 Since 1994, nearly 40 cities in the United States have passed living wage ordinances. These ordinances mandate that businesses under contract with the city, and in some cases businesses receiving assistance from the city, pay employees a wage sufficient to lift their families out of poverty. This report examines the actual experiences of cities implementing such laws, focusing in particular on the following questions: Do living wage laws raise wages for at least some low-wage workers? Are wage gains for low-wage workers offset by either reductions in employment or the amount of hours worked as employers seek to accommodate the additional labor costs? Do living wage laws achieve their stated policy objective of improving economic outcomes for low-income families? Do the laws reduce urban poverty? Given the stated antipoverty goal of living wage campaigns, why do the laws generally restrict coverage to city contractors, rather than imposing wage floors for broad groups of workers?
Report California’s Future By Ellen Hanak, Laura Hill, Hans Johnson, Caroline Danielson ... Jan 15, 2021 This multi-topic publication highlights the state’s most pressing long-term policy challenges in several key areas: criminal justice, economy, education, safety net, and water and a changing climate.
Occasional Paper, Report Sizing Up the Challenge: California’s Infrastructure Needs and Tradeoffs By Ellen Hanak, Elisa Barbour Jun 1, 2005 This Occasional Paper is part of the California 2025 project Technical Report series. The series provides more information on topics discussed in chapters of the project’s major report, California 2025: Taking on the Future (Hanak and Baldassare, eds., PPIC, 2005).
Report Policies for Creating and Keeping Jobs in California By David Neumark, Emma Wohl Dec 13, 2023 State efforts to spur job creation include 21 programs ranging from tax credits to worker training. Three policies offer strong evidence indicating they create jobs or increase employment in California. New programs—and programs with weak evidence—need to have built-in features that allow deeper evaluation.
Report Do California’s Enterprise Zones Create Jobs? By David Neumark, Jed Kolko Jun 10, 2009 California’s enterprise zone program was established to spur business and job creation in economically distressed areas. Offering tax credits and other incentives to businesses throughout the state, it is California’s largest economic development program. But does it work? This report finds that enterprise zones have no overall effect on job growth. There are some positive findings: for example, the program raises employment more in zones with smaller manufacturing shares, and marketing and outreach efforts seem to be helpful. But the report’s main finding calls into question the wisdom of investing in the program as it stands.
Occasional Paper, Report Interstate Business Relocation: An Industry-Level Analysis By David Neumark, Junfu Zhang, Jed Kolko Jun 19, 2006 In this report, using data covering all establishments ever located in California during 1992-2003, we study interstate business relocation and other establishment and employment dynamics in different industries.
Report Supporting Student Parents in Community College CalWORKs Programs By Shannon McConville, Sarah Bohn, Bonnie Brooks Oct 14, 2020 All community colleges run support programs for students who receive CalWORKs, the state’s cash assistance program for poor families with children. Students do better when enrolled in these support programs, but completion rates are low. How can colleges help more CalWORKs students succeed?
Occasional Paper, Report Blueprint Planning in California: Forging Consensus on Metropolitan Growth and Development By Michael B. Teitz, Elisa Barbour Jun 21, 2006 A background report for the Blueprint Learning Network, an ongoing working group convened by the California Department of Transportation. A presentation based on this report was given to the group on May 12, 2006.
