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Making Sense of the Minimum Wage: A Roadmap for Navigating Recent Research

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  • Clemens, Jeffrey

Abstract

The new conventional wisdom holds that a large increase in the minimum wage would be desirable policy. Advocates for this policy dismiss the traditional concern that such an increase would lower employment for many of the low-skilled workers that the increase is intended to help. Recent economic research, they claim, demonstrates that the disemployment effects of increasing minimum wages are small or nonexistent, while there are large social benefits to raising the wage floor. This policy analysis discusses four ways in which the case for large minimum wage increases is either mistaken or overstated.

Suggested Citation

  • Clemens, Jeffrey, 2019. "Making Sense of the Minimum Wage: A Roadmap for Navigating Recent Research," MPRA Paper 94324, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:94324
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Jonathan Meer & Jeremy West, 2016. "Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment Dynamics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(2), pages 500-522.
    10. Clemens, Jeffrey & Wither, Michael, 2019. "The minimum wage and the Great Recession: Evidence of effects on the employment and income trajectories of low-skilled workers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 53-67.
    11. Jeffrey Clemens & Michael R. Strain, 2017. "Estimating the Employment Effects of Recent Minimum Wage Changes: Early Evidence, an Interpretative Framework, and a Pre-Commitment to Future Analysis," NBER Working Papers 23084, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Clemens, Jeffrey, 2017. "The Minimum Wage and the Great Recession: A Response to Zipperer and Recapitulation of the Evidence," MPRA Paper 80153, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Jeffrey Clemens & Lisa B. Kahn & Jonathan Meer, 2018. "The Minimum Wage, Fringe Benefits, and Worker Welfare," NBER Working Papers 24635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Ekaterina Jardim & Mark C. Long & Robert Plotnick & Emma van Inwegen & Jacob Vigdor & Hilary Wething, 2018. "Minimum Wage Increases and Individual Employment Trajectories," NBER Working Papers 25182, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    20. Whaples Robert, 2006. "Do Economists Agree on Anything? Yes!," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 3(9), pages 1-6, November.
    21. Jeffrey Clemens & Lisa B. Kahn & Jonathan Meer, 2021. "Dropouts Need Not Apply? The Minimum Wage and Skill Upgrading," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(S1), pages 107-149.
    22. Adams, Camilla & Meer, Jonathan & Sloan, CarlyWill, 2022. "The minimum wage and search effort," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
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    28. Clemens, Jeffrey, 2017. "Pitfalls in the Development of Falsification Tests: An Illustration from the Recent Minimum Wage Literature," MPRA Paper 80154, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jeffrey Clemens, 2021. "How Do Firms Respond to Minimum Wage Increases? Understanding the Relevance of Non-employment Margins," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 51-72, Winter.
    2. IONESCU, Gabriela-Mariana, 2020. "Why The Minimal Wage Shouldn’T Be Established On The Minimum Consumption Basket?," Journal of Financial and Monetary Economics, Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 8(1), pages 45-52, October.
    3. Aedin Doris & Donal O'Neill & Olive Sweetman, 2022. "The Introduction of a Living Wage in Ireland," Economics Department Working Paper Series n316-22.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    4. Kawaguchi, Daiji & Mori, Yuko, 2021. "Estimating the effects of the minimum wage using the introduction of indexation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 388-408.
    5. Andrew Yizhou Liu, 2022. "The Minimum Wage And Occupational Mobility," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(2), pages 917-945, May.
    6. Radhakrishnan Gopalan & Barton H. Hamilton & Ankit Kalda & David Sovich, 2021. "State Minimum Wages, Employment, and Wage Spillovers: Evidence from Administrative Payroll Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(3), pages 673-707.
    7. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Minimum Wage; Employment; Welfare; Literature Review;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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