Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.

Tompkins County’s cost of living is higher than anywhere else in the region. And for several years, county leaders have been mulling the idea of setting their own, higher minimum wage, which some argue could better reflects the economic reality of life here.

Last summer, after the most recent round of debate over the proposal, county legislators opted to commission a study of the potential implications of a local minimum wage.

Now, that study is complete. Researchers say raising the minimum wage would help reduce longstanding inequities. But there are some lingering questions, and not everyone is on board.

Research professor Ian Greer was one of a team of Cornell University researchers who conducted the study. Greer is also the director of the university’s Ithaca Co-Lab, which aims to support and study labor issues and workers rights in Tompkins County.

Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.

Produced, hosted and edited by Megan Zerez. Cover art image by Jacob Mroczek.