The Employment Effects of Minimum Wages: Some Questions We Need to Answer

31 Pages Posted: 17 Jul 2017 Last revised: 11 Jun 2023

See all articles by David Neumark

David Neumark

University of California, Irvine - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: July 2017

Abstract

The literature on the employment effects of minimum wages is about a century old, and includes hundreds of studies. Yet the debate among researchers about the employment effects of minimum wages remains intense and unsettled. This essay discusses the key questions that have arisen in the past research that, if we can answer them, may prove most useful in making sense of the conflicting evidence. I also focus on additional questions we should consider to better inform the policy debate, in particular in the context of the very high minimum wages coming on line in the United States, about which past research is quite uninformative.

Suggested Citation

Neumark, David, The Employment Effects of Minimum Wages: Some Questions We Need to Answer (July 2017). NBER Working Paper No. w23584, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3003722

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