The Effects of Minimum Salaries on Career Length: Evidence from the National Football League (NFL)
19 Pages Posted: 16 Jul 2014
Date Written: July 14, 2014
Abstract
We use National Football League (NFL) data to analyze the impact of minimum salaries on an employee’s career length. The NFL has a salary structure in which the minimum salary a player can receive increases with the player’s years of experience. Salary schedules similar to the NFL’s exist in public education, federal government agencies, the Episcopalian church, and unionized industries. NFL data allows us to control for a player’s productivity. We find statistically significant evidence that minimum salaries shorten career length when they require teams to increase a player’s base salary or total compensation from year t to year t plus 1.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation