Who'd Be Most Affected by a Local Minimum Wage?
Recently, the city of St. Louis increased its minimum wage to $10 per hour, but the Missouri legislature passed a bill that would block that increase. Charles Gascon and James D. Eubanks examined this citywide minimum wage and found that it would affect residents across the income spectrum and throughout the entire metropolitan area:
Low wages may not be associated with low household income: More than half of those living in poverty have no one in their household who is employed, but many minimum wage workers are young workers taking their first job.
About half of the workers earning less than $10 in St. Louis City are city residents. A city minimum wage would raise wages for 19,900 residents and 23,000 non-residents. Of the 19,900 city residents expected to receive the $10 per hour, 9,500 live in households that earn below the median income of $35,000.
See the full essay here.
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