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Training, Minimum Wages and the Earnings Distribution

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  • Alison Booth
  • Mark L. Bryan

Abstract

In this paper we highlight the relevance of work-related training to the minimum wage debate. We initially situate training incidence within the broader picture of the earnings distribution in Britain and demonstrate that lower-paid workers are less likely than workers towards the top of the hourly wage distribution to receive work-related training. We then show that work-related training is potentially important from a distributional standpoint, since it significantly increases individuals’ longer-term earning prospects. Next we report empirical results indicating that the introduction in 1999 of a national minimum wage in Britain had a small but statistically significant positive effect on subsequent training incidence for affected workers. In conclusion, we note that the available empirical evidence for Britain shows that minimum wages (i) are associated with a small increase in work-related training for the low paid and (ii) have not adversely affected the employment of British workers. We therefore suggest that the minimum wage has the potential to reduce wages inequality in the longer-term provided that it continues to be set at a level that does not threaten employment. This potential arises not just because of the direct and obvious effect of a minimum wage in increasing wages at the bottom of the distribution, but also through its more indirect effect on work-related training.

Suggested Citation

  • Alison Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2006. "Training, Minimum Wages and the Earnings Distribution," CEPR Discussion Papers 537, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:537
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    File URL: https://www.cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/CEPR/DP537.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon Rottenberg, 1981. "The Economics of Legal Minimum Wages," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 971842, September.
    2. Wiji Arulampalam & Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2004. "Training in Europe," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 346-360, 04/05.
    3. L. Bryan, Mark & L. Booth, Alison & Arulampalam, Wiji, 2003. "Work-related training and the new National Minimum Wage in Britain -ISER Working Paper-," ISER Working Paper Series 2003-05, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Stewart, Mark B, 2002. "Estimating the Impact of the Minimum Wage Using Geographical Wage Variation," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(0), pages 583-605, Supplemen.
    5. Adam J. Grossberg & Paul Sicilian, 1999. "Minimum Wages, On-the-Job Training, and Wage Growth," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(3), pages 539-556, January.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Jorn-Steffen Pischke, 1999. "The Structure of Wages and Investment in General Training," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(3), pages 539-572, June.
    7. Richard Blundell & Lorraine Dearden & Costas Meghir & Barbara Sianesi, 1999. "Human capital investment: the returns from education and training to the individual, the firm and the economy," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 20(1), pages 1-23, March.
    8. Melero Martín, Eduardo, 2004. "Evidence on Training and Career Paths: Human Capital, Information and Incentives," IZA Discussion Papers 1377, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Machin, Stephen & Manning, Alan & Rahman, Lupin, 2002. "Where the minimum wage bites hard: the introduction of the UK national minimum wage to a low wage sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20070, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Hart, Robert A. & Ritchie, Felix, 1999. "Tenure-based Wage Setting," IZA Discussion Papers 47, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Alison L. Booth & Gylfi Zoega, 2004. "Is wage compression a necessary condition for firm-financed general training?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 88-97, January.
    12. Neumark, David & Wascher, William, 2001. "Minimum Wages and Training Revisited," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(3), pages 563-595, July.
    13. Stevens, Margaret, 1994. "A Theoretical Model of On-the-Job Training with Imperfect Competition," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 537-562, October.
    14. Mark B. Stewart, 2004. "The Impact of the Introduction of the U.K. Minimum Wage on the Employment Probabilities of Low-Wage Workers," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(1), pages 67-97, March.
    15. Sutherland, H., 2001. "The National Minimum Wage and In-work Poverty," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0111, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
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    17. Hashimoto, Masanori, 1982. "Minimum Wage Effects on Training on the Job," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(5), pages 1070-1087, December.
    18. Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2005. "Testing Some Predictions of Human Capital Theory: New Training Evidence from Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(2), pages 391-394, May.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    work-related training; national minimum wage; earnings distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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