Join the Living Wage - A Fair Wage for New Yorkers - Campaign - Call To Action - Now Is The Time!

Living Wage NYC--a coalition of faith, labor, community and grassroots groups throughout New York City--released the following statement in response to NYCEDC's study, “The Economic Impacts on New York City of Proposed Living Wage Mandate”:

"We knew the findings of this rigged study long before it was released. That's because the Bloomberg administration has openly opposed living wage standards. This is the same administration whose failed economic development policies have resulted in higher rates of homelessness, higher rates of hunger and higher rates of long-term unemployment. The City Council has a responsibility to act on behalf of all New Yorkers to ensure that when taxpayer dollars are given to private developers the resulting jobs pay a living wage."

Crains: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110509/REAL_ESTATE/110509880

City Hall News: http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-1879-living-wage-would-kill-jobs-cost-billions-bloomberg-report-claims.html

Comments from our supporters:

City Comptroller John C. Liu

“The EDC’s claim that a living wage kills jobs shows just how distorted the agency’s operations have become. The proposed living wage would be a requirement on new projects that are heavily subsidized by taxpayers. It may curtail the number of new minimum wage jobs, with the hope that these new jobs would then pay a decent wage. The claim of job losses is rhetoric at its worst.”

Bettina Damiani, Project Director, Good Jobs New York:
It is disappointing New York City taxpayers paid $1 million for a study that denounces a small wage increase for the working poor because it might affect the powerful, wealthy real estate industry. If working New Yorkers can’t count on earning a living wage, what policy recommendations does the Bloomberg Administration plan to put forward to lift workers out of poverty?

James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute
“"This is not an economy that is working well for most New Yorkers. It is
unfortunate that the EDC study failed to look at well-known factors such
as the cost of public subsidies received by low-wage workers, or the
positive productivity effects of better wages, in assessing how city
policies can improve the living standards of low-wage workers."

Paul Sonn, Legal Co-Director, NELP
“Based on initial reports, the EDC’s study appears to be based on David
Neumark’s past research that claims living wage policies kill jobs, even
though that research is flawed and has been roundly discredited by a
wealth of research—as recently as last year by researchers at the
University of North Carolina and the University of California. The core
question here is why New York can’t do what Los Angeles and San Francisco
have been doing for years: ask major businesses that receive
taxpayer-funded benefits to pay a living wage in return.”

--
Ava Farkas
Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union
30 E. 29th St.
New York, NY
212-684-5300/ 646-533-5454
www.livingwagenyc.org

Call To Action - Now Is The Time!

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