How can cities successfully enforce a higher minimum wage?

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/0809/How-can-cities-successfully-enforce-a-higher-minimum-wage



The rising minimum wage in cities across the country is seen as a victory by many workers and activists, but enforcing these laws may be more difficult than creating them.

How can cities successfully enforce a higher minimum wage?
By Gretel Kauffman, Staff writer August 9, 2015

The recent wave of minimum wage hikes across the country has drawn mixed reactions, to say the least: triumphant cheers from minimum wage workers and activists; angry opposition from employers who say that businesses will be forced to fire workers or else struggle to stay open.

But for the millions of employees who are paid below the legal minimum, the raises aren’t likely to have much of an impact.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly 1.7 million U.S. workers — two thirds of whom were women — were illegally paid less than the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour in 2014. Many are undocumented; others simply take the jobs because they’re the only ones they can get.

The US Labor Department investigates these violations, but doesn’t enforce state and local wage laws, leaving cities and states across the country responsible for making sure their $10 or $15 minimum wages are enforced.