The JUST Report: Living Wage Analysis Spotlights A Key Election Issue
One thing we know from our polling is that Republicans and Democrats agree that companies paying workers fairly and offering a living wage – meaning, enough to afford basic necessities at the local level – is essential to just business performance.
Some work we completed recently with Revelio Labs, our partner on corporate wage analysis, showed how geographically dependent this is. In retail work for example – which is reportedly tied for being the most common job in America – an entry-level sales employee working at a Russell 1000 company in Charlottesville, Virginia will make 21.4% percent less on average than their local living wage for a single adult working full-time. Conversely, they would make on average 26.4% more than the living wage for a household of one in Merced, California. Indeed, California stands out as a state in which retail sales roles can offer wages exceeding the local living wage. Of note, the top companies for entry-level retail positions include Best Buy, Nordstrom, Skechers, and Macy’s.
Coming back to politics, it was interesting to see how the locations in which retail workers earn significantly less than the living wage needed to support a family – such as Rocky Mount, NC; Kalamazoo-Portage, MI; and Bay City, MI – mapped to those counties where voting could decide the election this fall. With 36% of Americans identifying economic problems including high cost of living/inflation and wage issues as the most important issue facing the nation today, perhaps encouraging just corporate behavior – and specifically payment of a living wage – is the best way for politicians to earn the trust and the votes of those they serve.
Be well,
Martin
Quote of the Week
“I said that President Obama wants to meet with the president of the Ford Foundation — he isn’t interested in meeting with Darren Walker. It’s important to have that clarity so that when the day comes that you’re no longer president of the Ford Foundation, you can still find joy and happiness and satisfaction…philanthropy as a field needs new leaders and needs a constant refreshing because as a sector we can be self-satisfied and lose the edge to our work. There is no doubt that Henry Ford would be surprised that a Black gay man was president of his foundation, but I see that as a testament to this country’s ability to live up to its potential as a democracy and as a diverse community.”
- Current Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, speaking on his decision to step down from the organization next year. Our CEO Martin Whittaker took to LinkedIn to share his thoughts on this momentous change.
JUST Events
August 6th 2024: Investing in Care: Proving the Payoff of Caregiving Benefits
Join us for a candid discussion about the challenges and opportunities of investing in caregiving benefits and potential positive outcomes for doing so. How are companies currently leading on caregiving benefits? What do you need to know about your workforce to create quality offerings? Learn first-hand from a company’s journey to significantly expanding their caregiving benefits.
Speakers:
Donnebra McClendon, Global Head of Culture and Inclusion, Dayforce
Joseph Fuller, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School
Nicole De Santis, Partner, BCG
Ashley Marchand Orme, Director of Equity & Stakeholder Leadership, JUST Capital
JUST AI
Vox analyzes a study funded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, to see if universal basic income can offset AI job loss.
Must Reads
The federal minimum wage marks its 15-year anniversary at $7.25 as reported by Axios.
The CEO of Crowdstrike has been asked to testify in front of Congress over the global tech outage that occurred last week after a faulty software update. The Washington Post has the story.
Reuters reports that Disneyland narrowly avoided a strike of its 14,000 park employees, which would have been the first time the park shut down in over 40 years. Meanwhile, Bethesda Game Studios and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft team, both subsidiaries of Microsoft, have voted to unionize, making them the highest-profile game developers yet to do so.
Fortune releases its list of the Best Places to Live for Families. The one thing they all have in common? They are sustainable for both their youngest and oldest residents.
