INTRODUCTION AND MAIN FINDINGS In July 2006, the Chicago City Council passed a “Big Box Living Wage Ordinance,” mandating that all retail stores larger than 90,000 square feet and operated by companies making more than $1 billion a year in revenue pay workers a minimum hourly wage of $10 per hour. The ordinance was vetoed by Mayor Richard Daley in September 2006, who said the measure would be harmful to the city. The growth of big box retail is a mixed blessing to local communities. There is strong evidence that jobs created by Wal-Mart in metropolitan areas pay less and are less likely to offer benefits than those they replace. Controlling for differences in geographic location, Wal-Mart workers earn an estimated LIVING WAGE POLICIES AND WAL-MART: HOW A HIGHER WAGE STANDARD WOULD IMPACT WAL-MART WORKERS AND SHOPPERS Arindrajit Dube UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Dave Graham-Squire UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education Ken Jacobs UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education Stephanie Luce UMass Labor Relations and Research Center December 2007 UC BERKELEY CENTER FOR LABOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION RESEARCH BRIEF