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Job Quality Standards

Overview

An estimated 30 million Americans hold low-wage jobs.¹ Workers in these jobs struggle to meet their basic day-to-day expenses, let alone save for the future. While wages are one component of job quality, benefits – such as health insurance, retirement contributions and protected time off – are another. Millions of workers are faced with choosing between keeping their income and taking time off work to care for themselves or a loved one because they lack the basic leave benefits necessary to protect their earnings and jobs. Federal policy provides a floor for wage and benefit standards; however, state policy can appropriately expand on and strengthen federal laws. For example, states can ensure that the minimum wage keeps pace with the rising cost of living and accounts for geographic variation. They can also ensure that no class of workers is excluded from wage protections and that laws are properly enforced. Likewise, states can strengthen leave policies by establishing paid sick, family and medical leave for workers.

Policy Ratings

To see state-by-state policy data, click here.

Elements of a Strong Policy

Based on the expertise of the National Employment Law Center and the National Partnership for Women and Families, CFED considers a state to have taken meaningful steps to strengthen job quality standards for working families if it meets the following criteria:

1. Does the state have a strong minimum wage policy? States should enact minimum wage rates of least $8.00 per hour or automatically annually adjust the rate for cost of living.
2. Does the state’s minimum wage law guarantee full coverage for all workers? Contrary to popular conception, not all workers are guaranteed the federal or state minimum wage. Many labor laws exempt certain groups of workers from minimum wage coverage. States should extend minimum wage protections to agricultural, domestic, home care and tipped workers.
3. Does the state require employers to offer paid medical, family or sick leave? States should adopt policies – including paid medical leave, family leave and sick leave – that enable workers to address family or health issues without jeopardizing their earnings or job security.
4. Does the state expand the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to cover more workers? States can take significant incremental steps toward ensuring more workers have the right to unpaid family and medical leave by extending FMLA coverage to more workers and families. States should:
   • Expand coverage to include smaller employers. FMLA only applies to employers with 50 or more workers; states should lower this threshold.
   • Expand coverage to employees who have less tenure or have worked fewer than the 1,250 annual hours, required by FMLA.
   • Expand the definition of “family” beyond care for a child, spouse or parent. For example, states should include care for domestic partners, siblings, grandparents or grandchildren.

Footnotes

1. Indicators & Data, s.v. “Conditions of Employment,” Working Poor Families Project, http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/indicators.html. A low-wage worker is defined as an employed individual 18 years or older who earns below the poverty threshold for a family of four in 2010 ($22,314), adjusted for state cost of living.