What is a living wage?
    What is a living wage campaign?
    What is the Memphis Living Wage Coalition?
    Why do we need a living wage ordinance?
    What are the main advantages to a living wage?
    What about fringe benefits?
    Who pays the increased costs of a living wage?
    Which workers are covered by the Memphis and Shelby County living wage ordinances?   

  What is a living wage? A living wage, as opposed to the minimum wage,
  is one that is enough to lift a worker and his or her family out of poverty. 
  The current federal minimum wage is $6.55 an hour.  At this level, a full-time,
  minimum wage worker earns only $13,100 a year.  In 2008, the federal poverty
  level is $21,200 per year for a family of four.  Additionally, most poverty experts
  consider the federal poverty level to be set at too low a level.  Dr. David Ciscel’s
  study “What is a Living Wage for Memphis?” published in 2002, found that a single parent with one
  child would need to earn $26,128 per year to meet basic needs in Memphis.

  The Memphis Living Wage Campaign defines a living wage as 104 percent of the poverty
  level for a family of four when health insurance is provided by the employer, or 120
  percent of the poverty level when insurance is not provided. In 2008, this equals $10.60
  an hour with benefits, or $12.23 per hour without benefits.

 What is a living wage campaign?  In more than 140 communities across the
  country, including Memphis and Shelby County, living wage ordinances have been
  passed as a way for local governments, school districts, and universities to address
  concerns about the working poor.  A living
  wage campaign works to pass legislation that requires companies to pay a living
  wage to their workers in order to receive city contracts or economic development
  subsidies from local government.  Companies that pay poverty wages should not
  benefit from taxpayer dollars, and local governments should not pay their own workers poverty wages.

  Which workers are covered by the Memphis and Shelby County living wage ordinances?
  Living wage legislation passed by the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County
  Commission mandates that the following workers be paid living wage rates:
  Full time City of Memphis employees:
  At least $10 per hour and health benefits
  Part time and temporary City of Memphis employees:
  At least $12 per hour
  Workers on City of Memphis service contracts and Memphis Light, Gas, and Water service contracts:
  104% percent of the federal poverty line (in 2008: $10.60 per hour)  with insurance or
  120% of the poverty line without insurance (in 2008: $12.23 per hour.)
  All Shelby County employees:
  104% percent of the federal poverty line (in 2008: $10.60 per hour) if health insurance is provided,
  or 120% of the poverty line without insurance (in 2008: $12.23 per hour.)
  Workers on Shelby County contracts:
  104% percent of the federal poverty line (in 2008: $10.60 per hour) if health insurance is provided,
  or 120% of the poverty line without insurance (in 2008: $12.23 per hour.)
  Workers at companies receiving new property tax freezes from the Memphis/Shelby County Industrial Development Board:
  At least $10 per hour if the workers' job is being created after the tax freeze. Health insurance must be provided
  to all workers at the facility.

  What is the Memphis Living Wage Coalition?  The Memphis Living
  Wage Coalition includes forty-two member groups: congregations and faith groups,
  community organizations, and labor unions, as well as concerned individuals.  The coalition
  believes that everyone who works should earn wages high enough to keep them out of poverty.

 Why do we need a living wage ordinance? The basic reason for a living
  wage campaign is that no one should do an honest day’s work and be poor at the
  end of the day, especially when his or her employer gets public contracts or financial
  assistance from the city.  Living wage ordinances work to change the downward trend
  in incomes for low-wage workers.  The minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation,
  and for many workers, full-time work is no longer a safeguard against poverty.  Local
  governments should contract with and subsidize those companies who pay their workers
  equitably, and they should pay their own workers enough to care for their families. 
  Without living wage ordinances, governments can contribute to the creation of jobs
  that pay poverty wages.

  What about fringe benefits? Because of federal law, living wage
  ordinances cannot require that employers provide health coverage. 
  However, the Memphis and Shelby County living wage ordinances require city
  and county contractors to pay a higher wage level - at least $12.00 an hour for
  2007- to workers who do not have employer-provided health insurance.

  Who pays the increased cost of a living wage? The evidence
  from other cities that have living wage laws indicates that most of the costs of
  living wage ordinances are absorbed by businesses through reduced
  training and recruitment costs or by small reductions in profits.  For most
  businesses, the cost of raising their bottom wage levels is only a small
  fraction of their budgets.  Evaluations of living wage laws also found no significant
  evidence of job loss, and the costs of contracts for the city increased by
  only insignificant amounts.  Where there may be small increases in costs to
  taxpayers (primarily because of city workers’ wages being raised by
  the ordinance), there will likely be an accompanying reduction in the cost of
  public assistance for low-wage workers that taxpayers currently bear.

  *Memphis and Shelby County service contractors must begin paying the living
  wage law when they renew their contracts or initiate a new contract. Contracts
  worth less than $10,000 are exempt from the Shelby County ordinance.