About

We envision a city where businesses and workers thrive.

Our Mission

Our Mission

The Good Wages Initiative certifies, celebrates, and showcases Marion County employers committed to providing full-time employees both a wage of at least $18/hr and access to employer-sponsored health insurance benefits.

 

Our Focus

Our Focus

Inspired by living wage certification programs in North Carolina and Ithaca, New York, Indianapolis’ Good Wages Initiative emerged in order to showcase employers paying good wages that sustain workers and support more employers in doing so.

In 2018, the Brookings Institution partnered with the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership to produce a report examining Central Indiana’s economic future. Advancing opportunity in Central Indiana outlines numerous ways for the area to improve its trajectory through the availability of more good and promising jobs that pay living wages. Their research determined $18/hour, paired with employer-sponsored health insurance, to be the general living wage for the area (i.e., not specific to any one household configuration).

As Marion County’s workforce development board, EmployIndy oversees the Good Wages Initiative to further its commitment to Indianapolis’ workforce ecosystem and residents. EmployIndy utilizes a Lilly Endowment grant to support the launch of the Good Wages Initiative.

Read the Report

Raising wages costs money.
Not raising wages costs more.

The Impact of Good Wages

  • On Businesses

    Paying higher wages can help attract and retain more highly qualified workers, with 67% of job seekers preferring to work for companies with a strong focus on corporate social responsibility.

    Increase retention
    Improve productivity
    Boost talent attraction
  • On Workers

    When businesses invest in people – everyone benefits. 

    Better physical and mental health
    Higher life expectancy
    Improve opportunities for advancement
  • On the Community

    Higher wages drive economic development and fuel strong job growth and competition—which helps boost the local economy.

    Increase racial equity
    Stimulate local commerce
    Boost economic mobility
What's the consumer perspective?

What's the consumer perspective?

Employee wages matter

71% of consumers indicate that they would prefer to buy from a business paying higher – rather than lower – wages

Values matter

40% of shoppers are “purpose-driven” and want spend with companies that mirror their values

Equity matters

84% of Americans feel that companies should pay living wages as part of addressing racial diversity, equity and inclusion

Ashley
Profiles

Ashley

When I made $12-13/hour, I remember the stress of being sick, going to the doctor, and having $100 or so of unplanned expenses from that. I always thought about money in terms of hours of work. Getting sick would take up 10 hours of my pay. Rarely could I pay all the bills - I had to keep choosing what to pay.

Now, I'm making $18/hour and there is so much less stress. It's so relieving. But I'm still dealing with the $10,000 loan I took out for college. I've been paying about $100/mo since 2014.

Even though I'm doing better, debt and financial limitations are like a storm cloud following you. You think you're getting out from under it, but it keeps following.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy

Moving south on the Monon Trail from 96th Street to 10th Street, life expectancy drops 14 years.

Little chance for moving up

Little chance for moving up

Children growing up poor in Indianapolis have some of the lowest chances for earning more than their parents.

Out of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country, Indianapolis ranks 90th for intergenerational economic mobility.

 

Stuck wages

Stuck wages

Between 2006-2016, Central Indiana employers increased wages by half that of peers cities elsewhere in the country.

Our whitepaper: The case for paying living wages in Indianapolis

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