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Minimum wage effects on employment and working time of Chinese workers——evidence based on CHNS

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  • Wenkai Sun
  • Xianghong Wang
  • Xiaoxi Zhang

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of minimum wage policies on employment, income, and working time of Chinese workers. Using data from China Health and Nutrition Survey, we focus on identifying the effects of minimum wage adjustments using a pre-specified model. We control for lagged minimum wage standard, individual characteristics, provincial population and economic factors, and fixed effects of province and year. We find some evidence of minimum wage impacts on wages and employment for limited groups. Increase of minimum wage has positive effect on wage income only for low-income workers and has negative employment effect only for workers in private and individual enterprises. While minimum wage shortens the average working hours for employed workers, it does not have significant effect on the relative working times for different income groups. These findings may imply some beneficial effects of the minimum wage policies for Chinese workers. JEL code: J22, J31, J38. Copyright Sun et al. 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Wenkai Sun & Xianghong Wang & Xiaoxi Zhang, 2015. "Minimum wage effects on employment and working time of Chinese workers——evidence based on CHNS," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izaldv:v:4:y:2015:i:1:p:1-22:10.1186/s40175-015-0046-2
    DOI: 10.1186/s40175-015-0046-2
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    3. Langchuan Peng & Xiaxin Wang & Daixin He, 2019. "How Do Minimum Wage Adjustments Affect Wages In China: Evidence Based On Administrative Personal Income Tax Data," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(2), pages 349-365, April.
    4. Mayneris, Florian & Poncet, Sandra & Zhang, Tao, 2018. "Improving or disappearing: Firm-level adjustments to minimum wages in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 20-42.
    5. Ren, Yanjun & Peng, Yanling & Campos, Bente Castro & Li, Houjian, 2021. "Higher minimum wage, better labour market returns for rural migrants? Evidence from China," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 1814-1835.
    6. Bachmann, Ronald & Boockmann, Bernhard & Gonschor, Myrielle & Kalweit, René & Klauser, Roman & Laub, Natalie & Rulff, Christian & Vonnahme, Christina, 2022. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Löhne und Arbeitszeiten," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 264288.
    7. Jiwei Chen, 2021. "Do minimum wage increases benefit worker health? Evidence from China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 473-499, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Minimum wage; Employment; Income; Working time;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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