Minimum Wage Increases Under Straightened Circumstances

44 Pages Posted: 23 Oct 2011

See all articles by John T. Addison

John T. Addison

University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

McKinley L. Blackburn

University of South Carolina - Darla Moore School of Business

Chad Cotti

University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

Abstract

Do apparently large minimum wage increases in an environment of recession produce clearer evidence of disemployment effects than is typically observed in the new minimum wage literature? This paper augments the sparse literature on the most recent increases in the U.S. minimum wage, using three different data sets and the two main estimation strategies for handling geographically-disparate trends. The evidence is generally unsupportive of negative employment effects, still less of a 'recessionary multiplier.' Minimum wage workers seem to be concentrated in sectors of the economy for which the labor demand response to wage mandates is minimal.

Keywords: minimum wages, disemployment, earnings, low-wage sectors, geographically-disparate employment trends, recession

JEL Classification: J2, J3, J4, J8

Suggested Citation

Addison, John T. and Blackburn, McKinley L. and Cotti, Chad, Minimum Wage Increases Under Straightened Circumstances. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6036, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1948032 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1948032

John T. Addison (Contact Author)

University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business - Department of Economics ( email )

The Francis M. Hipp Building
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HOME PAGE: http://mooreschool.sc.edu/moore/economics/profiles/addison.htm

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
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Germany

McKinley L. Blackburn

University of South Carolina - Darla Moore School of Business ( email )

1705 College St
Francis M. Hipp Building
Columbia, SC 29208
United States
803-777-4931 (Phone)
803-777-6876 (Fax)

Chad Cotti

University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh ( email )

800 Algoma Blvd
Oshkosh, WI WI 54901
United States

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