When the Minimum Wage Really Bites Hard: Impact on Top Earners and Skill Supply

Terry Gregory, Ulrich Zierahn

Research output: Working paperAcademic

Abstract

We investigate minimum wage spillovers by exploiting the first-time introduction of a minimum wage within a quasi-experiment in a context with an extraordinary large bite: the German roofing industry. We find positive wage spillovers for medium-skilled workers with wages just above the minimum wage, but negative effects for high-skilled top earners in East Germany, where the bite was particularly pronounced. There, the minimum wage lowered both returns to skills and skill supply. We propose a theoretical model according to which negative spillovers occur whenever a negative scale effect dominates a positive substitution effect and provide empirical support for our theory.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherSSRN
Number of pages58
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Sept 2020

Publication series

NameSSRN Electronic Journal

Keywords

  • minimum wages
  • wage effects
  • spillover effects
  • wage restraints
  • returns to skills
  • unconditional quantile regression
  • scale effect
  • substitution effect
  • skill supply

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