'Living wages' defended

Contrary to what critics have feared, requiring companies that do business with government to pay a "living wage" does not generally result in increased costs, according to a new study.

The study, released Wednesday by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University's School of Law, surveyed 20 cities and counties across the country to assess the impact of their year-old "living wages" laws.

Utah law prohibits forcing local governments to pay wages above poverty level.

While living wage laws have a variety of different components, the key requirement is that employers who expect to do business with government pay their workers between $8 and $12 an hour, a salary that can help stave off poverty and government assistance.

Generally, the study determined that contract costs were much less than government officials had feared, for a couple of reasons.

First, most governments don't have a lot of contracts with companies who employ low-wage workers, with the exception of janitorial service providers or security guard firms.

Second, many governments found the requirement actually stimulated more interest in bidding on the contract, with companies in many circumstances absorbing the increased costs of the labor rather than passing them onto government.

Bill Tibbetts, Anti-Hunger Action Committee coordinator for Salt Lake's Crossroads Urban Center, said the study reflects why Utah lawmakers were wrong nearly three years ago when they passed legislation prohibiting living-wage laws.

"Generally, this study shows these laws don't cost cities very much at all," Tibbetts said. "What that means to me is that a living wage law is is one of the more cost-effective anti-poverty measures a city could take."

Tibbetts said the premise behind living-wage laws is that it makes little sense for one branch of government, such as a city, to perpetuate poverty by doing business with employers that don't pay workers enough to get off assistance provided by another branch of government.

A 2002 study, for example, showed nearly half of all Utah jobs do not pay a high enough wage to meet the federal government's poverty threshold of $17,650 for a family of four.

Typically, Tibbetts said, Utah workers make 80 percent of the national average wage but endure 100 percent of the nation's average living expenses.

"I work every day with people who are unable to feed their family even when they are working full time," he said.

The current federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is woefully inadequate, Tibbetts said.