A Minimum Wage Natural Experiment Has Been Running for Over a Decade

Posted by surreptitioussloth

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  1. surreptitioussloth on

    This is a summary post of three different ways to look at the impact of minimum wages above the federal minimum wage for the last decade+

    It includes a look at the wage and employment effects using all states with above federal minimum wages, comparisons between neighboring cities in states with and without elevated minimum wages, and a comparison of red states with increased minimum wages in comparison to states without an increased minimum wage over the federal minimum wage

    In general, it finds a meaningful increase in wages in low wage industries without a significant effect on employment. It doesn’t include much discussion on price impact, but from the labor side of it these seem to have been a win for the implementing states

    Minimum wage, and increases to it, can be controversial, so this evidence is a helpful indicator that in practice these policies might be more helpful than harmful

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