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Minimum wages and employment

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  • Keil, Manfred
  • Robertson, Donald
  • Symons, James

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of minimum wages on employment using a panel of US state-based data. We estimate a minimalist dynamic version of the specification implied by neo-classical theory. We find statistically and economically significant effects of minimum wages on youth employment. Unlike many other studies we find also significant effects on aggregate state employment. These results re-establish the conventional wisdom as existing before the work of Card-Krueger-Katz. The paper meets the methodological criticisms of this sort of panel study made by CKK. An important econometric innovation in this paper is to produce estimates allowing for cross-sectional correlation, which offers unbiased inference and potential efficiency gains.

Suggested Citation

  • Keil, Manfred & Robertson, Donald & Symons, James, 2001. "Minimum wages and employment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20119, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:20119
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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. David Card, 1992. "Using Regional Variation in Wages to Measure the Effects of the Federal Minimum Wage," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(1), pages 22-37, October.
    3. Alan B. Krueger & David Card, 2000. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1397-1420, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Burgess, Simon & Turon, Helene, 2000. "Unemployment dynamics, duration and equilibrium: evidence from Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20162, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. William Wascher & David Neumark, 2000. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1362-1396, December.
    7. Stephen Nickell & Glenda Quintini, 2003. "Nominal wage rigidity and the rate of inflation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(490), pages 762-781, October.
    8. Neumark, David & Wascher, William, 1995. "Minimum Wage Effects on Employment and School Enrollment," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 199-206, April.
    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..
    10. Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1992. "The Effect of the Minimum Wage on the Fast-Food Industry," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(1), pages 6-21, October.
    11. Robertson, Donald & Symons, James, 2000. "Factor residuals in SUR regressions: estimating panels allowing for cross sectional correlation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20163, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Stephen Nickell & John Van Reenen, 2001. "Technological Innovation and Performance in the United Kingdom," CEP Discussion Papers dp0488, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    13. Anderson, T. W. & Hsiao, Cheng, 1982. "Formulation and estimation of dynamic models using panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 47-82, January.
    14. Grubb, David & Symons, James, 1987. "Bias in Regressions With a Lagged Dependent Variable," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 371-386, June.
    15. David Neumark & William Wascher, 1992. "Employment Effects of Minimum and Subminimum Wages: Panel Data on State Minimum Wage Laws," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(1), pages 55-81, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2008. "The Effect of Minimum Wages on Immigrants' Employment and Earnings," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 61(4), pages 544-563, July.
    3. Knabe Andreas & Schöb Ronnie & Thum Marcel, 2014. "Der flächendeckende Mindestlohn," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 133-157, June.
    4. David Neumark & Peter Shirley, 2022. "Myth or measurement: What does the new minimum wage research say about minimum wages and job loss in the United States?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 384-417, October.
    5. Charlene M. Kalenkoski & Donald J. Lacombe, 2013. "Minimum wages and teen employment: A spatial panel approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(2), pages 407-417, June.
    6. Fenstemacher, Kory Alan & Fisher, Jared Harrison & Hadzalic, Zerina & Hillebrandt, Brenda, 2019. "Estimating the Economic Impact of Increases in the Minimum Wage," SocArXiv xduw4, Center for Open Science.
    7. repec:rri:wpaper:201108 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Tony Fang & Carl Lin, 2015. "Minimum wages and employment in China," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-30, December.
    9. Projektgruppe Gemeinschaftsdiagnose, 2014. "Gemeinschaftsdiagnose Frühjahr 2014: Deutsche Konjunktur im Aufschwung – aber Gegenwind von der Wirtschaftspolitik," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 67(08), pages 03-64, April.
    10. Stephen Bazen & Velayoudom Marimoutou, 2002. "Looking for a Needle in a Haystack? A Re‐examination of the Time Series Relationship between Teenage Employment and Minimum Wages in the United States," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(supplemen), pages 699-725, December.
    11. Griffy, Benjamin & Masters, Adrian, 2022. "Labor market policy in the presence of a participation externality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    12. Jellal, Mohamed, 2012. "Maroc salaire minimum emploi et pauvreté [Morocco minimum wage employment and poverty]," MPRA Paper 38491, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Christl, Michael & Köppl Turyna, Monika & Kucsera, Denes, 2015. "Employment effects of minimum wages in Europe revisited," MPRA Paper 65761, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Calavrezo, Oana & Pelek, Selin, 2011. "Qui sont les salariés payés au niveau du salaire minimum? Une analyse empirique à partir de données turques," GIAM Working Papers 11-2, Galatasaray University Economic Research Center, revised 13 Feb 2011.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Minimum wages; panel data; cross sectional correlation; factor analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J39 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Other

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