How One Scholar's Wage Calculator Is Propelling Minimum Wage Reform

"Poverty In America"

MIT's Living Wage Calculator

http://livingwage.mit.edu/

***

How one scholar's living wage calculator made it happen. "Ikea is basing its new wage structure on MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, a Web site that shows how much workers need to make in any given county or municipality to afford basic goods....While Glasmeier said she gets many inquiries about the data from public officials or smaller employers, it appears that Ikea is the first global corporation to base its wages on it. With just 38 stores in the United States, the company’s footprint is much smaller than that of Gap, which has a store in thousands of malls. But Glasmeier said such a move could have an impact." Jena McGregor in The Washington Post.

***

Where are the toughest places to live in the U.S.? 

Alan Flippen in The New York Times.