Do minimum wages raise employment? Evidence from the US retail-trade sector

John Addison, M.L. Blackburn, C.D. Cotti

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of minimum wages on earnings and employment in selected branches of the retail-trade sector, 1990-2005, using county-level data on employment and a panel regression framework that allows for county-specific trends in sectoral outcomes. We focus on specific subsectors within retail trade that are identified as particularly low-wage. We find little evidence of disemployment effects once we allow for geographic-specific trends. Indeed, in many sectors the evidence points to modest (but robust) positive employment effects. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)397-408
Number of pages12
JournalLabour Economics
Volume16
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
  • Economics and Econometrics

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