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The Economic Impacts of a Citywide Minimum Wage

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  • Dube, Arindrajit
  • Naidu, Suresh
  • Reich, Michael

Abstract

This paper presents the first study of the economic effects of a citywide minimum wage— San Francisco’s adoption of a minimum wage, set at $8.50 in 2004 and $9.14 by 2007. Compared to earlier benchmark studies by Card and Krueger and by Neumark and Wascher, this study surveys table-service as well as fast-food restaurants, includes more control groups, and collects data for more outcomes. The authors find that the policy increased worker pay and compressed wage inequality, but did not create any detectable employment loss among affected restaurants. The authors also find smaller amounts of measurement error than characterized the earlier studies, and so they can reject previous negative employment estimates with greater confidence. Fast-food and table-service restaurants responded differently to the policy, with a small price increase and substantial increases in job tenure and in the proportion of full-time workers among fast-food restaurants, but not among table-service restaurants.

Suggested Citation

  • Dube, Arindrajit & Naidu, Suresh & Reich, Michael, 2007. "The Economic Impacts of a Citywide Minimum Wage," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt2r84736j, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt2r84736j
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1994. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 772-793, September.
    2. Richard V. Burkhauser & Kenneth A. Couch & David C. Wittenburg, 2000. "Who Minimum Wage Increases Bite: An Analysis Using Monthly Data from the SIPP and the CPS," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(1), pages 16-40, July.
    3. Brown, Charles, 1999. "Minimum wages, employment, and the distribution of income," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 32, pages 2101-2163, Elsevier.
    4. Reich, Michael & Laitenen, Amy, 2003. "Raising Low Pay in a High Income Economy: The Economics of a San Francisco Minimum Wage," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt7336j74k, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    5. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dube, Arindrajit & Lester, T. William & Reich, Michael, 2011. "Do Frictions Matter in the Labor Market? Accessions, Separations and Minimum Wage Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 5811, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. David Neumark & William Wascher, 2006. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Review of Evidence from the New Minimum Wage Research," NBER Working Papers 12663, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Manning, Alan, 2011. "Imperfect Competition in the Labor Market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 11, pages 973-1041, Elsevier.
    4. T. William Lester, 2011. "The Impact of Living Wage Laws on Urban Economic Development Patterns and the Local Business Climate: Evidence From California Cities," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(3), pages 237-254, August.
    5. Barry T. Hirsch & Bruce E. Kaufman & Tetyana Zelenska, 2015. "Minimum Wage Channels of Adjustment," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 199-239, April.
    6. Carrie H. Colla & William H. Dow & Arindrajit Dube, 2011. "The Labor Market Impact of Employer Health Benefit Mandates: Evidence from San Francisco's Health Care Security Ordinance," NBER Working Papers 17198, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Lindsay Trant & Christy Anderson Brekken & Larry Lev & Lauren Gwin, 2018. "Implications of the 2016 Oregon Minimum Wage Increase for Direct Market Farmers, Farmworkers, and Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18, January.
    8. Jeannette Wicks-Lim & Jeffrey Thompson, 2010. "Combining Minimum Wage and Earned Income Tax Credit Policies to Guarantee a Decent Living Standard to All U.S. Workers," Published Studies peri_mw_eitc_oct2010, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    9. James Buszkiewicz & Cathy House & Anju Aggarwal & Mark Long & Adam Drewnowski & Jennifer J. Otten, 2019. "The Impact of a City-Level Minimum Wage Policy on Supermarket Food Prices by Food Quality Metrics: A Two-Year Follow Up Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, January.
    10. John Schmitt & David Rosnick, 2011. "The Wage and Employment Impact of Minimum-Wage Laws in Three Cities," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2011-07, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    11. Daniel MacDonald & Eric Nilsson, 2016. "The Effects of Increasing the Minimum Wage on Prices: Analyzing the Incidence of Policy Design and Context," Upjohn Working Papers 16-260, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

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    Keywords

    Living Wage Policies;

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