EmployIndy
has publicly launched the Good Wages Initiative (GWI) in Marion County which certifies, celebrates, and showcases Marion County employers that have voluntarily committed to providing full-time employees both a wage of at least $18/hour and access to employer-sponsored health insurance benefits.
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 the area can develop strategies to increase the availability of more good and promising jobs that pay living wages. Their research determined that $18/hour, paired with employer-sponsored health insurance, is the general living wage for the Indianapolis area (the number of working and non-working individuals in a household, along with other factors not considered, affect the standard of living for household members).
“Paying good wages and providing employer-sponsored health insurance gives businesses critical advantages in today’s labor market, from reductions in turnover to increased productivity,” says Marie Mackintosh, EmployIndy’s chief strategy officer. “Employees experience reduced financial stress and improved health outcomes while the community benefits through increased buying power and overall job quality.”
“We applaud our partners at EmployIndy for launching the Good Wages Initiative. Through expert and deeply data-driven research beginning in 2018, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership has sought to inform the public square when it comes to better understanding what a ‘good job’ actually is in Central Indiana, and the pay and benefits it must provide for families to make ends meet, even in our relatively low-cost marketplace” says David L. Johnson, president and CEO, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. “EmployIndy is now taking the critical next step, on both the data and the moral imperative to make this an even better, and far more inclusive place to live, work and raise a family.”
For more information on the Good Wages Initiative, visit: https://employindy.org/goodwages/
WATCH Inside INdiana Business interview with EmployIndy Chief Strategy Officer Marie Mackintosh and B&W Plumbing Owner and President Beth Rovazzini.
