IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v74y2021i5p1179-1201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Future of Labor Localism in an Age of Preemption

Author

Listed:
  • Olatunde C. A. Johnson

Abstract

In recent years, labor and civil rights groups have successfully pushed for local regulation raising the minimum wage, creating new parenting and sick leave policies, and broadening anti-discrimination protections to address sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. This article examines the viability of this worker-protective regulation at the local level in the face of current legal and political challenges. In particular, it considers the rise of state preemption laws that overturn local ordinances, which is the product of anti-regulatory mobilization at the state legislative level. The article provides case studies of state preemption and offers potential legal arguments for challenging preemption and safeguarding labor and civil rights localism. The author concludes, however, that given the uncertainty of whether these legal arguments will prevail in court, civil rights and labor advocates will need to engage politics at the state level to preserve and expand local innovations.

Suggested Citation

  • Olatunde C. A. Johnson, 2021. "The Future of Labor Localism in an Age of Preemption," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(5), pages 1179-1201, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:74:y:2021:i:5:p:1179-1201
    DOI: 10.1177/0019793920970932
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0019793920970932
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0019793920970932?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ekaterina Jardim & Mark C. Long & Robert Plotnick & Emma van Inwegen & Jacob Vigdor & Hilary Wething, 2018. "Minimum Wage Increases and Individual Employment Trajectories," NBER Working Papers 25182, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Lori Riverstone-Newell, 2017. "The Rise of State Preemption Laws in Response to Local Policy Innovation," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 403-425.
    3. Ekaterina Jardim & Mark C. Long & Robert Plotnick & Emma van Inwegen & Jacob Vigdor & Hilary Wething, 2017. "Minimum Wage Increases, Wages, and Low-Wage Employment: Evidence from Seattle," NBER Working Papers 23532, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Janice Fine & Michael Piore, 2021. "Introduction to a Special Issue on the New Labor Federalism," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(5), pages 1085-1102, October.
    2. Gali Racabi, 2021. "Effects of City–State Relations on Labor Relations: The Case of Uber," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(5), pages 1155-1178, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner, 2021. "City Limits: What Do Local-Area Minimum Wages Do?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 27-50, Winter.
    2. Dharmasankar, Sharada & Yoo, Hoyoung, 2023. "Assessing the main and spillover effects of Seattle's minimum wage on establishment decisions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    3. Clemens, Jeffrey, 2019. "Making Sense of the Minimum Wage: A Roadmap for Navigating Recent Research," MPRA Paper 94324, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Mark C. Long, 2022. "Seattle's local minimum wage and earnings inequality," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 528-542, April.
    5. Peter Harasztosi & Attila Lindner, 2019. "Who Pays for the Minimum Wage?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(8), pages 2693-2727, August.
    6. Subir K. Chakrabarti & Srikant Devaraj & Pankaj C. Patel, 2021. "Minimum wage and restaurant hygiene violations: Evidence from Seattle," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 85-99, January.
    7. Neumark David, 2019. "The Econometrics and Economics of the Employment Effects of Minimum Wages: Getting from Known Unknowns to Known Knowns," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 293-329, August.
    8. Benjamin Hansen & Drew McNichols, 2020. "Information and the Persistence of the Gender Wage Gap: Early Evidence from California's Salary History Ban," NBER Working Papers 27054, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. David Neumark & Brian Asquith & Brittany Bass, 2020. "Longer‐Run Effects Of Anti‐Poverty Policies On Disadvantaged Neighborhoods," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(3), pages 409-434, July.
    10. Michael J. Böhm & Hans-Martin von Gaudecker & Felix Schran, 2024. "Occupation Growth, Skill Prices, and Wage Inequality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 201-243.
    11. Bai, Xue & Chatterjee, Arpita & Krishna, Kala & Ma, Hong, 2021. "Trade and minimum wages in general equilibrium: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    12. Perez Perez, Jorge, 2020. "City Minimum Wages and Spatial Equilibrium Effects," SocArXiv fpx9e, Center for Open Science.
    13. Gregory, Terry & Zierahn, Ulrich, 2022. "When the minimum wage really bites hard: The negative spillover effect on high-skilled workers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    14. Kandilov, Amy & Kandilov, Ivan T., 2018. "The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Employment, Earnings, Wages, and Hours in the U.S. Agricultural Sector," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274158, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Pedro S. Martins, 2021. "30,000 Minimum Wages: The Economic Effects of Collective Bargaining Extensions," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 335-369, June.
    16. Campos Vázquez, Raymundo Miguel & Rodas Milián, James Alexis, 2020. "El efecto faro del salario mínimo en la estructura salarial: evidencias para México," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 87(345), pages 51-97, enero-mar.
    17. Katharine G. Abraham & Melissa S. Kearney, 2020. "Explaining the Decline in the US Employment-to-Population Ratio: A Review of the Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(3), pages 585-643, September.
    18. Pestel, Nico & Bonin, Holger & Isphording, Ingo E. & Gregory, Terry & Caliendo, Marco, 2020. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Beschäftigung und Arbeitslosigkeit," IZA Research Reports 95, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Winters, John V., 2022. "Minimum Wages and Restaurant Employment for Teens and Adults in Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan Areas," IZA Discussion Papers 15499, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Claus Thustrup Kreiner & Daniel Reck & Peer Ebbesen Skov, 2020. "Do Lower Minimum Wages for Young Workers Raise Their Employment? Evidence from a Danish Discontinuity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 339-354, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:74:y:2021:i:5:p:1179-1201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.