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The effects of minimum wages on the distribution of family incomes: a nonparametric analysis

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Author Info
David Neumark
Mark Schweitzer
William Wascher

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Abstract

The primary goal of a national minimum wage floor is to raise the incomes of poor families with members in the work force. We present evidence on the effects of minimum wages on family incomes from March CPS surveys. Using non-parametric estimates of the distributions of family income relative to needs in states and years with and without minimum wage increases, we examine the effects of minimum wages on this distribution, and on the distribution of the changes in income that families experience. Although minimum wages do increase the incomes of some poor families, the evidence indicates that their net effect is, if anything, to increase the proportions of families with incomes below or near the poverty line. Thus, it would appear that reductions in the proportions of families that are poor or near-poor should not be counted among the potential benefits of minimum wages.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in its series Working Paper with number 0412.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedcwp:0412

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Keywords: Minimum wage ; Poverty;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. repec:cup:etheor:v:8:y:1992:i:4:p:476-88 is not listed on IDEAS
  2. Brown, Charles & Gilroy, Curtis & Kohen, Andrew, 1982. "The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Employment and Unemployment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 487-528, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. David Neumark & William Wascher, 1995. "The Effects of Minimum Wages on Teenage Employment and Enrollment: Evidence from Matched CPS Surveys," NBER Working Papers 5092, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Richard V. Burkhauser & Kenneth A. Couch & David C. Wittenburg, 1996. "Who gets what from minimum wage hikes: A re-estimation of Card and Krueger's distributional analysis in "Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage."," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 49(3), pages 547-552, April.
  5. Freeman, Richard B, 1996. "The Minimum Wage as a Redistributive Tool," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(436), pages 639-49, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. repec:fth:prinin:300 is not listed on IDEAS
  7. David Neumark & William Wascher, 1992. "Employment effects of minimum and subminimum wages: Panel data on state minimum wage laws," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 46(1), pages 55-81, October.
  8. Edward M. Gramlich, 1976. "Impact of Minimum Wages on Other Wages, Employment, and Family Incomes," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 7(1976-2), pages 409-462. [Downloadable!]
  9. David Card, 1992. "Using Regional Variation in Wages to Measure the Effects of the Federal Minimum Wage," Working Papers 680, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
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  10. David Neumark & William Wascher, 1997. "Do Minimum Wages Fight Poverty?," NBER Working Papers 6127, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Hashimoto, Masanori, 1982. "Minimum Wage Effects on Training on the Job," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(5), pages 1070-87, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Addison, John T. & Blackburn, McKinley L., 1998. "Minimum Wages and Poverty," ZEW Discussion Papers 98-42, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne & Stanger, Shuchita, 1999. "The Highs and Lows of the Minimum Wage Effect: A Time-Series Cross-Section Study of the Canadian Law," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 318-50, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Johnson, William R & Browning, Edgar K, 1983. "The Distributional and Efficiency Effects of Increasing the Minimum Wage: A Simulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 204-11, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. David Neumark & William Wascher, 1995. "Reconciling the evidence on employment effects of minimum wages: a review of our research findings," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 95-53, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. David C Ribar, 2000. "County-Level Estimates of the Employment Prospects of Low-Skill Workers," Working Papers 00-11, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
  2. Amos Golan & Jeffrey Perloff & Ximing Wu, 2001. "Welfare Effects of Minimum Wage and Other Government Policies," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series 957, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. David Neumark & Daiji Kawaguchi, 2001. "Attrition Bias in Economic Relationships Estimated with Matched CPS Files," NBER Working Papers 8663, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Stacy Dickert-Conlin & Douglas Holtz-Eakin, 1999. "Helping the Working Poor: Employer- vs. Employee-Based Subsidies," Center for Policy Research Policy Briefs 14, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University. [Downloadable!]
  5. Ximing Wu & Jeffrey Perloff & Amos Golan, 2004. "Government Policy Effects on Urban and Rural Income Inequality," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series 976, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
  6. Daniel Aaronson & Sumit Agarwal & Eric French, 2008. "The consumption response to minimum wage increases," Working Paper Series WP-07-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  7. Scott Adams & David Neumark, 2004. "The Economic Effects of Living Wage Laws: A Provisional Review," NBER Working Papers 10562, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Ximing Wu & Jeffrey Perloff & Amos Golan, 2002. "Effects of Government Policies on Income Distribution and Welfare," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series 950, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. David Neumark & William Wascher, 2000. "Using the EITC to Help Poor Families: New Evidence and a Comparision with the Minimum Wage," NBER Working Papers 7599, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Richard V. Burkhauser & Kosali I. Simon, 2007. "Who Gets What from Employer Pay or Play Mandates?," NBER Working Papers 13578, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. David Neumark & William Wascher, 2000. "Using the EITC to Increase Family Earnings: New Evidence and a Comparison with the Minimum Wage," JCPR Working Papers 134, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
  12. David Neumark & Wendy Cunningham & Lucas Siga, 2004. "The Effects of the Minimum Wage in Brazil on the Distribution of Family Incomes: 1996-2001," Working Papers 050627, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Stacy Dickert-Conlin & Douglas Holtz-Eakin, 1999. "Employee-Based versus Employer-Based Subsidies to Low-Wage Workers: A Public Finance Perspective," JCPR Working Papers 79, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
  14. David Neumark & Mark Schweitzer & William Wascher, 1999. "The effects of minimum wages throughout the wage distribution," Working Paper 9919, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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