Livable Wage Research Articles

A story of social entrepreneurship through the creation of the Hopeboots project

Research methodology This case was developed by using primary data collected from two separate one on one interviews, a panel interview in which Josee was featured and secondary data collected from news articles and publications featuring Josee. Information specific to Atikuss’ offerings was found through the Atikuss website. A translation software was used to understand many of the articles about Josee, as many were in French. Case overview/synopsis Atikuss (meaning young caribou in Innu) is the sustainable business founded by Josee LeBlanc, an Indigenous woman from Northern Quebec. As a workshop-boutique, Attikuss offers a diverse selection of hand-made traditional Indigenous items from her own Indigenous culture. Hopeboots is a project run through Atikuss which allows customers to create their own Mukluks while learning about Indigenous culture and the story behind every design. When starting her business, Josee learned that the women making mukluk boots were not earning a livable wage for their work. Her dilemma when creating a sustainable business was whether to increase the beaders wages to a fair wage, costing her and the consumer more, or maintaining the status quo by continuing to pay the beaders less then five dollars an hour. Josee’s decision to increase wages generated opportunities and increased well being through social investments in her community. This decision considers the cost to many stakeholders and offers an Indigenized perspective to entrepreneurship. This case is relevant to Indigenous entrepreneurship, sustainability, social innovation, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility. Complexity academic level This case is targeted toward university-level students and can be relevant to graduate-level students as well.

660-P: Association between Livable Wage and Quality of Life in Adults with Diabetes

Background: Livable wage, compared to federal minimum wage, is income required to cover basic needs without outside assistance. There is limited data on the relationship between livable wage and health outcomes in adults with diabetes. This study tested the relationship between livable wage and quality of life in adults with diabetes. Methods: MEPS data from 2011-2020 were used. Federal minimum wage was based on the federal 2022 level of $7.25. Livable wage was based on the MIT living wage calculator level of $24.16. Both were multiplied by 280 to account for 40 hours per week for 52 weeks. Outcomes were physical component score (PCS) and mental component score (MCS) of the SF-12. Dependent variable was livable wage categorized as: 1) <federal minimum=“” wage=“” (<$15,080);=“” 2)=“” <livable=“” (=livable wage (≥$50,252). Covariates included: demographics, region, education, insurance, and comorbidities. Multiple linear regression was used to test the relationship between living wage and PCS/MCS adjusting for covariates. Results: Study sample was 20,327, representing 244,622,755 US adults with diabetes. By livable wage category, 64.1% reported wages <federal minimum=“” wage,=“” 22.6%=“” reported=“” wages=“” =livable wage. In unadjusted models, PCS and MCS were 37.5 and 48.5 for < minimum wage; 45.9 and 51.9 for =livable wage. In adjusted models, PCS and MCS were 39.3 and 48.7 for < minimum wage; 43.7 and 52.2 for =livable wage. Differences between groups were statistically significant for PCS and MCS in unadjusted models and only for PCS in fully adjusted models. Conclusions: These findings show that livable wage is associated with significantly improved physical and mental health, yet 86% of the population are not receiving a livable wage. As the field moves forward to address structural inequalities, emphasis on economic stability via livable wage is critical to optimize patient outcomes. Disclosure J.A.Campbell: None. L.E.Egede: None. Funding National Institutes of Health (K24DK093699, R01DK118038, R01DK120861, K01DK131319, R01MD013826)

The Hidden Strains of ‘Cool’ Jobs

A growing number of workers today are drawn to jobs that offer symbolic and cultural rewards but not necessarily stable employment or livable wages. Existing literature posits the exploitative nature of this labor arrangement, where workers must weigh the ‘cool’ aspects of their jobs against other less desirable aspects. Yet what happens when both these dimensions of work are deeply intertwined and subject to changing perspectives? Drawing on ethnographic data and in-depth interviews with US craft beer workers, we show how ‘cool’ aspects of brewery jobs are experienced as significant sources of material, social, and work identity strain that cause some workers to grow estranged from their jobs over time. We suggest a broader framework for understanding the hidden strains of jobs that appeal to workers for symbolic reasons, and advocate for shifting jobs in the new economy away from cool-yet-precarious employment bargains and toward more sustainable forms of employment.

State Minimum Wage Increases As a Potential Policy Lever to Reduce Black-White Disparities in Hypertension.

Black adults are disproportionately burdened by hypertension. Income inequality is associated with elevated risk of hypertension. Minimum wage increases have been explored as a potential policy lever to address the disparate impact of hypertension on this population. However, these increases may have no significant impact on health among Black adults due to structural racism and "diminished gain" of health effects from socioeconomic resources. This study assesses the relationship between state minimum wage increases and Black-White disparities in hypertension. We merged state-level minimum wage data with survey data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2001-2019). Odd survey years included questions about hypertension. Separate difference-in-difference models estimated the odds of hypertension among Black and White adults in states with and without minimum wage increases. Difference-in-difference-in-difference models estimated the impact of minimum wage increases on hypertension among Black adults relative to White adults. As state wage limits increase, the odds of hypertension significantly decreased among Black adults overall. This relationship is largely driven by the impact of these policies on Black women. However, the Black-White disparity in hypertension worsened as state minimum wage limits increased, and the magnitude of this disparity was larger among women. States having a minimum wage above the federal wage limit are not sufficient to combat structural racism and reduce the disparities in hypertension among Black adults. Rather, future research should explore livable wages as a policy lever to reduce disparities in hypertension among Black adults.

Understanding the Microtask Crowdsourcing Experience for Workers with Disabilities: A Comparative View

Microtask crowdsourcing holds great potential as an employment opportunity with the flexibility and anonymity that individuals with disability may require. Though prior research has explored the accessibility of crowd work, the lived crowd work experiences of the broader community of workers with disability are still largely under-explored, especially when it comes to how their experiences are similar to or different from the experiences of workers without disability. In this work, we aim to obtain a deeper understanding of the microtask crowdsourcing experience for people with disabilities, especially regarding their financial and social experiences of participating in crowd work, along with the benefits and challenges that they encounter through this work. Specifically, we first surveyed 1,200 crowd workers both with and without disability about their experiences using the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform, and the differences we found inspired the design of a follow-up survey to gain greater understanding of the crowd work experience for workers with disability. Our findings reveal that workers with disability receive unique benefits from performing crowd work, such as a greater sense of purpose, but also encounter many challenges, such as completing tasks on time and earning a livable wage, causing them to turn to online communities for assistance. Although many of the challenges they face are not unique to crowd workers with disability, workers with disability may be disproportionately impacted by these challenges. From our findings, we provide implications for crowd platforms, as well as the gig economy as a whole, that seek to promote greater consideration of workers with a diverse range of conditions to create a more valuable work experience for them.

Contemporary issues, opportunities, and resources for the U.S. outdoor recreation profession

The purpose of this study was to understand the contemporary issues, opportunities, and resource needs of U.S. outdoor recreation professionals. In Spring 2021, we conducted focus groups with members of the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals and Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education. Iterative qualitative analysis of professionals' perspectives using both inductive and matrix coding yielded key themes including: 1) justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), 2) social-ecological health, 3) societal demand, 4) industry direction, and 5) professional identity. While certain themes (i.e., JEDI) existed in previous trends studies, others illustrate the relative novelty of professionals’ experiences of the outdoor recreation boom both pre- and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In sum, we provide an inventory of current issues, opportunities, and resource needs for outdoor recreation professionals, which can inform future advocacy and planning by professional organizations. The overall development in the field of outdoor recreation will be influenced by the aspects: • Key issues will be 1) justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), 2) social-ecological health, 3) societal demand, 4) industry direction, and 5) professional identity. • JEDI was the most salient theme across organizational membership affiliation, indicating the importance of ongoing social justice efforts led by the outdoor recreation industry. • Participants' focus on the negative ecological health impacts and positive human health benefits stemming from outdoor recreation solidly situates the industry within One Health and other ongoing public health efforts. • In some cases, different needs exist across the supply and demand segments of the outdoor recreation profession, particularly related to professional identity and livable wages. • Workforce development opportunities include, but are not limited to, investment and training in community and stakeholder engagement through SCORP processes, planning for social media's influence of recreation resources, and additional human resources to adapt to surging demand.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying about Heavy Metal and Love Labor Journalism

How I Learned to Stop Worrying about Heavy Metal and Love Labor Journalism

Different Year, Different Jurisdiction, but the Same Findings

For the last fifteen years, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (“CSSP”) partnered with local agencies to use an Institutional Analysis (“IA”), a method that identifies how local child welfare institutions are not working for families. We have particularly focused on the experiences of Black families.
 Through a comprehensive and varied qualitative data analyses, each IA strives to make the invisible and detrimental workings of systems more visible, that is, each IA reveals specific institutional features that contribute to poor outcomes for Black families. Findings from IAs have identified problematic policies, practices, protocols, resource distribution, and other features at the local, regional, state, and federal levels. From the twenty IAs conducted to date, we have substantial evidence of the insidious, pervasive, and mutating structural and institutional racism ingrained in child welfare systems. While the IAs have unique findings in each jurisdiction, there are also common findings, including: lack of meaningful and reasonable efforts to keep families together; policies that undermine existing networks of Black families; lack of due process and poor advocacy for Black families; inaccessible, inappropriate, and ineffective resources offered to families; coercive and punitive interventions; hyper surveillance of Black families; workforce fear of Black families, particularly Black fathers; and ineffective mechanisms of accountability that result in blaming families for the failures of workers, providers, and larger societal ills (lack of housing, lack of livable wages, etc.).
 This Piece presents evidence compiled over the years which leads us to conclude that reforms within the current system will only go so far and that radical investment in community supports and anti-poverty efforts are necessary.

Preventing Childhood Adversity Through Economic Support and Social Norm Strategies

Through the Essentials for Childhood program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds 7 state health departments (states) to address the urgent public health problem of adverse childhood experiences and child abuse and neglect, in particular. Through interviews and document reviews, the paper highlights the early implementation of 2 primary prevention strategies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's child abuse and neglect technical package with the greatest potential for broad public health impact to prevent adverse childhood experiences-strengthening economic supports and changing social norms. States are focused on advancing family-friendly work policies such as paid family and medical leave, livable wage policies, flexible and consistent work schedules, as well as programs and policies that strengthen household financial security such as increasing access to Earned Income Tax Credit. In addition, states are launching campaigns that focus on reframing the way people think about child abuse and neglect and who is responsible for preventing it. State-level activities such as establishing a diverse coalition of partners, program champions, and state action planning have helped to leverage and align resources needed to implement, evaluate, and sustain programs. States are working to increase awareness and commitment to multisector efforts that reduce adverse childhood experiences and promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children. Early learning from this funding opportunity indicates that using a public health approach, states are well positioned to implement comprehensive, primary prevention strategies and approaches to ensure population-level impact for preventing child abuse and neglect and other adverse childhood experience.

Evidence for Action: Addressing Systemic Racism Across Long-Term Services and Supports.

Long-term services and supports (LTSS), including care received at home and in residential settings such as nursing homes, are highly racially segregated; Black, Indigenous, and persons of color (BIPOC) users have less access to quality care and report poorer quality of life compared to their White counterparts. Systemic racism lies at the root of these disparities, manifesting via racially segregated care, low Medicaid reimbursement, and lack of livable wages for staff, along with other policies and processes that exacerbate disparities. We reviewed Medicaid reimbursement, pay-for-performance, public reporting of quality of care, and culture change in nursing homes and integrated home- and community-based service (HCBS) programs as possible mechanisms for addressing racial and ethnic disparities. We developed a set of recommendations for LTSS based on existing evidence, including (1) increase Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates, especially for providers serving high proportions of Medicaid-eligible and BIPOC older adults; (2) reconsider the design of pay-for-performance programs as they relate to providers who serve underserved groups; (3) include culturally sensitive measures, such as quality of life, in public reporting of quality of care, and develop and report health equity measures in outcomes of care for BIPOC individuals; (4) implement culture change so services are more person-centered and homelike, alongside improvements in staff wages and benefits in high-proportion BIPOC nursing homes; (5) expand access to Medicaid-waivered HCBS services; (6) adopt culturally appropriate HCBS practices, with special attention to family caregivers; (7) and increase promotion of integrated HCBS programs that can be targeted to BIPOC consumers, and implement models that value community health workers. Multipronged solutions may help diminish the role of systemic racism in existing racial disparities in LTSS, and these recommendations provide steps for action that are needed to reimagine how long-term care is delivered, especially for BIPOC populations.

The need for sustainable funding for Indigenous doula services in Canada.

Objectives:To interview representatives from Indigenous doulas across Canada in order to document how they manage the logistics of providing community-based doula care and understand their challenges. These objectives inform the development of an Indigenous doula pilot programme as part of the project, ‘She Walks With Me: Supporting Urban Indigenous Expectant Mothers Through Culturally Based Doulas’.Methods:In 2020, semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of five Indigenous doula collectives across Canada. Interview transcripts were approved by participants and subsequently coded by the entire research team to identify key themes.Results:Our article explores one of the main themes that emerged from these interviews: sustainable funding for Indigenous doula services. Within this theme we identified two sub-themes: (1) limitations on and regulations for available funding and (2) negative impacts of limited funding on doula service.Conclusion:A major challenge to providing Indigenous community-based doula services is sustainable funding. Current models of funding for this work often do not provide livable wages and are bound by limited durations and regulations that are unsustainable and can be culturally inappropriate. Due to this lack of sustainable funding, Indigenous doula service in Canada faces challenges that include high staff turnover and burnout and lack of time and resources to provide culturally safe care, pursue professional development and additional training, and keep their services affordable for the families who need them. Future research is needed to ascertain potential programmes and funding streams for sustainable Indigenous doula support in Canada, including possible integration of doula care into the universal public health care system despite the jurisdictional challenges in providing health care for Indigenous peoples.

Preschool instructional approaches and age 35 health and well-being

In this study we sought to explore the association between preschool instructional approach and health and well-being at age 35 for a large sample of low-income children. Participants included 989 low-income, minority children who attended Child-Parent Center preschools as part of the Chicago Longitudinal Study from 1983 to 1985. Preschool curriculum was obtained from teacher reports and validated by program evaluators. These data were categorized by raters as: high teacher-directed and child-initiated; low teacher-directed and child-initiated; low teacher-directed and high child-initiated; or high teacher-directed and low child-initiated. Data on adult outcomes were obtained through surveys and administrative records. Those in preschool classrooms with high teacher-directed and child-initiated instruction had increased odds of having a livable wage (Odds Ratio(OR) = 2.02, p = 0.001), and decreased odds of felony arrest (OR = 0.39; p < 0.001), jail or incarceration (OR = 0.35, p = 0.001), and conviction (OR = 0.52, p = 0.002) at age 35 than those in low teacher-directed and child-initiated classrooms. Participants experiencing low teacher-directed and high child-initiated instruction had increased odds of having a livable wage (OR = 2.01, p = 0.002) and decreased odds of felony arrest (OR = 0.46; p < 0.001), jail or incarceration (OR = 0.53; p = 0.023), and conviction (OR = 0.57, p = 0.01) at age 35. Findings were consistent across many model specifications and adjustments for potential attrition bias. Child-initiated instruction in preschool is a robust predictor of adulthood well-being. Early education prevention efforts to establish a blend of child-initiated and teacher-directed teaching philosophies affords the opportunity for long-term impacts on economic and criminal outcomes in adulthood.

Conversations about structural racism are uncomfortable. That’s the point.

Conversations about structural racism are uncomfortable. That’s the point.

Health Policy and Health Services Delivery in the Era of COVID-19.

Health Policy and Health Services Delivery in the Era of COVID-19.

"And we just have to keep going": Task shifting and the production of burnout among overdose response workers with lived experience.

Overdose response programs in North America increasingly employ task shifting-shifting overdose response tasks to less specialized workers-to increase effectiveness and promote involvement of people with lived/living experience of drug use (PWLE). In Canada, task shifting has occurred through community-driven implementation of overdose response programs staffed primarily by PWLE. The implications of this task shifting on workers' well-being and service delivery has received little scholarly consideration, despite reports of widespread burnout among frontline responders. This study examines experiences and drivers of burnout among PWLE working at low-barrier supervised consumption sites ("Overdose Prevention Sites" or OPSs) in Vancouver, Canada. Between December 2016 and March 2020, we conducted ethnographic fieldwork at four OPSs, including in-depth interviews with 23 overdose response workers, three site-based focus groups with 20 additional workers, and 150h of naturalistic observation. Data were analyzed to explore how working conditions, labour arrangements, economic insecurity and social disadvantage shaped burnout. We found that overdose response workers commonly reported burnout, which they attributed to the precarious and demanding nature of their work. While casual positions offered low-barrier employment, PWLE often lacked the wages and benefits enjoyed by other frontline workers, with limited supports and opportunities for advancement. Due to their social position within drug-using networks, PWLE's work encompassed hidden care work that participants felt was constant and undervalued. The scarcity of permanent full-time positions, alongside barriers to transitioning into formal employment, prevented many PWLE from earning livable wages or taking time off to 'recharge.' This study highlights how the devaluing and casualization of overdose response labour, compounded by other dimensions of structural vulnerability, are central to burnout among overdose response workers with lived experience. Interventions to address burnout within this setting must extend beyond individual-level interventions (e.g. counselling, self-care) to also strengthen working conditions and economic security of PWLE.

A Vision for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care From AMDA Leaders

A Vision for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care From AMDA Leaders

Creating place-based health and wellbeing networks in rural and remote communities.

Creating place-based health and wellbeing networks in rural and remote communities.

Victims without a Voice: Measuring Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Indian State of Bihar

ABSTRACTThis study represents one of the most methodologically rigorous attempts at estimating the prevalence, in the Indian state of Bihar, of the worst forms of child labor, defined broadly as coerced labor detrimental physically or psychologically to the development of a child. Based on samples collected through a combination of spatial random sampling and link-tracing strategies, and applying population-based calibrations, we find that the worst the forms of child labor are widespread and pervasive among child workers in urban Bihar, irrespective of whether we apply the Indian legal framework or the international convention. Such pervasive exploitation and abuse of child labor in one Indian state suggest the need to develop solutions that must address the fundamental social forces that compel children to work in slave-like conditions, such as basic livable wages for adult laborers and greater enforcement of existing child protection laws to ensure proper scrutiny of places where children are employed. It will take a long-term commitment from the Indian government as well as the civil society to tackle such a large-scale social problem, and interventions aiming to bring about significant social changes, such as improved enforcement of existing child labor law, public education and awareness campaign, financial as well as legal punishment of egregious employers.

“Making Do” in the Land of Opportunity—a Quantitative Exploration of the Economic Integration of Refugees in Utah

The economic integration of refugees is a multidimensional process. Yet, existing research predominantly assesses economic integration unidimensionally as rapid employment or as wage level. Few researchers examine refugees’ long-term prospects for earning a livable wage. I argue that to understand refugee economic integration researchers should model multiple dimensions. Using a combination of administrative data and regional contextual data, I employ event history analysis to compare models predicting employment to those predicting the acquisition of a livable wage. I find that the factors contributing to employment differ dramatically from those that contribute to earning a livable wage. The study offers strong support for the broad hypothesis that scholars need to theorize the causes of different forms of economic integration separately.

Fusion Politics from the Poor People’s Campaign to the Rainbow Coalition to the New Poor People’s Campaign

Abstract This article examines a model of fusion politics that connects activism to end poverty, and addresses a constellation of social injustices across more than a half century in the United States. We consider an articulation of fusion politics that highlights the actions of disparate groups and individuals, including youth, racial and ethnic minorities, women, LGBT activists, teachers, and union members who have joined in a cooperative effort to address independent but linked concerns such as quality public schools, livable wages, affordable healthcare, environmental justice, immigrant rights, women’s reproductive rights, fair elections, and criminal justice. Our analysis points out the historical links between the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, the Rainbow Coalition of the 1980s, and the new Poor People’s Campaign launched in 2018. It draws heavily on the words and writings of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Reverend William Barber, II in understanding the organizing, objectives, and transformative potential of these movements.