Predictor Jobs paying living wages

Living-wage jobs provide opportunities for work that enable people to meet their families’ financial needs, supporting economic success and feelings of dignity and belonging.

Evidence on the Relationship between Jobs Paying Living Wages and Upward Mobility Outcomes

As of December 2021, researchers have documented the following connections between this predictor and upward mobility. Asterisk (*) indicates primary reference.

  • Although many different attributes of a job can contribute to mobility, jobs that offer higher earnings tend to also offer employer benefits, such as paid time off and health and pension benefits, and workers in better-paying jobs tend to have more stable employment (Boushey 2008).
  • Literature reveals that parents’ wage and employment status can affect the development trajectories of their children. Children in families with higher-earning parents tend to be in better health and on better developmental trajectories than children in families with lower-earning parents (Ruhm 2000). Furthermore, low income exacerbates poor health, family conflict, and social isolation (Kahneman and Deaton 2010).
  • Living wages can have important psychological benefits. In fact, wages are one of the key indicators of job satisfaction. Literature suggests that living wages may enable a sense of empowerment instead of oppressive subordination (Alkire 2007; Carr, McAuliffe, and MacLachlan 2014).
  • A study predicting the health impacts of adopting a living wage in San Francisco found that doing so could lead to improvements in subjectively rated health, fewer number of days people miss work because of sickness, and reductions in depressive symptoms; but the study also found that it could lead to an increase in daily alcohol consumption. Furthermore, the study predicted positive outcomes for the children of living-wage earners, including extra 0.25 years of education completed, increased likelihood of completing high school, and reduced risk of early childbirth (Bhatia and Katz 2001). Another study found that increasing wages by raising the minimum wage resulted in improved birth outcomes, potentially through an increase in the use of prenatal care and a decrease in prenatal smoking (Wehby, Dave, and Kaestner 2018).
  • Brenner and Luce (2005)* find that living-wage laws can have positive effects on earnings and benefits and lead to more full-time jobs. A study assessing Boston’s living-wage ordinance found that it led to qualitative improvements in jobs themselves. Benefits included reduced debt, bank account openings, ability to take classes and vacations, having disposable income, and reduced work hours. Job benefits included health insurance, paid vacation days, retirement benefits, formal job training, and sick pay. But the ordinance did not leave workers feeling more financially secure; only one-quarter of workers indicated a greater sense of financial security. In other words, it did not permit them to get ahead but rather just helped them avoid falling behind.

Promising Local Policy Interventions

Research from both Urban and others in the field suggests the following policies could help communities improve this predictor. These suggestions are not exhaustive, and communities should work with residents and leaders to identify solutions that are best suited to their local contexts.


Mobility Metric(s) Used to Measure This Predictor

Pay on an average job compared with the cost of living

This metric reflects the supply of jobs in a community that pay enough to meet the local cost of a family’s basic needs.

View the full suite of metrics used to measure all the predictors in the Upward Mobility Framework.

Mobility Dimensions Engaged

  • Economic success
  • Dignity and belonging