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Minimum Wage: Does It Improve Welfare in Thailand?

Author

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  • Del Carpio, Ximena V

    (World Bank)

  • Messina, Julián

    (Universidad de Alicante)

  • Sanz-de-Galdeano, Anna

    (Universidad de Alicante)

Abstract

We study the causal impact of the minimum wage on employment and welfare in Thailand using a difference-in-difference approach that relies on exogenous policy variation in minimum wages across provinces. We find that minimum-wage increases have small disemployment effects on female, elderly, and less-educated workers and large positive effects on the wages of prime-age male workers. As such, increases in the minimum wage are associated with increases in household consumption per capita in general, but the consumption increase is greatest among those households around the median of the distribution. In fact, rises in the minimum wage increased inequality in consumption per capita within the bottom half of the distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Del Carpio, Ximena V & Messina, Julián & Sanz-de-Galdeano, Anna, 2014. "Minimum Wage: Does It Improve Welfare in Thailand?," IZA Discussion Papers 7911, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7911
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    1. Margherita Comola & Luiz De Mello, 2011. "How Does Decentralized Minimum Wage Setting Affect Employment And Informality? The Case Of Indonesia," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 57, pages 79-99, May.
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    4. Del Carpio, Ximena & Nguyen, Ha & Wang, Liang Choon, 2012. "Does the minimum wage affect employment ? evidence from the manufacturing sector in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6147, The World Bank.
    5. Dickens, Richard & Machin, Stephen & Manning, Alan, 1999. "The Effects of Minimum Wages on Employment: Theory and Evidence from Britain," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(1), pages 1-22, January.
    6. Vivi Alatas & Lisa A. Cameron, 2008. "The Impact of Minimum Wages on Employment in a Low-Income Country: A Quasi-Natural Experiment in Indonesia," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 61(2), pages 201-223, January.
    7. Gindling, T.H. & Terrell, Katherine, 2007. "The effects of multiple minimum wages throughout the labor market: The case of Costa Rica," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 485-511, June.
    8. Nguyen Viet, Cuong, 2010. "The Impact of a Minimum Wage Increase on Employment, Wages and Expenditures of Low-Wage Workers in Vietnam," MPRA Paper 36751, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Aug 2011.
    9. Magruder, Jeremy R., 2013. "Can minimum wages cause a big push? Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 48-62.
    10. Katherine Terrell & Rita K. Almeida, 2008. "Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers?," World Bank Publications - Reports 11742, The World Bank Group.
    11. Wendy Cunningham, 2007. "Minimum Wages and Social Policy : Lessons from Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6760, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Robayo,Monica & Terskaya,Anastasia & Koettl-Brodmann,Stefanie, 2020. "Ex-ante Evaluation of the Impact of Increases in Minimum Wages on Labor Market Outcomes in Kosovo," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9357, The World Bank.
    2. Kenn Ariga, 2016. "Minimum wage through the looking glass," KIER Working Papers 927, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    3. Mr. Christopher S Adam & Mr. Edward F Buffie, 2020. "The Minimum Wage Puzzle in Less Developed Countries: Reconciling Theory and Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2020/023, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Işık Enes & Orhangazi Özgür & Tekgüç Hasan, 2020. "Heterogeneous effects of minimum wage on labor market outcomes: A case study from Turkey," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-41, March.
    5. Nidhiya Menon & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, 2017. "The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Male and Female Employment and Earnings in India," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 34(1), pages 28-64, March.
    6. Wiggins, Steve & Keats, Sharada, 2015. "Rural Wages in Asia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212615, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Wannaphong Durongkaveroj, 2017. "Minimum Wage and Lives of the Poor: Evidence from Thailand," PIER Discussion Papers 76, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    8. David Neumark & Luis Felipe Munguia Corella, 2019. "Do Minimum Wages Reduce Employment in Developing Countries? A Survey and Exploration of Conflicting Evidence," NBER Working Papers 26462, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Neumark, David & Munguía Corella, Luis Felipe, 2021. "Do minimum wages reduce employment in developing countries? A survey and exploration of conflicting evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    10. Zhao, Yueyang & Mao, Jinzhou, 2022. "Energy effects of non-energy policies: Minimum wage standard and enterprise energy efficiency in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Stijn Broecke & Alessia Forti & Marieke Vandeweyer, 2017. "The effect of minimum wages on employment in emerging economies: a survey and meta-analysis," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 366-391, July.
    12. Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez & Gerardo Esquivel, 2023. "The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Poverty: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment in Mexico," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(3), pages 360-380, March.
    13. Wannaphong Durongkaveroj, 2022. "Does the minimum wage improve the welfare of workers? Evidence from the 2013 minimum wage reform in Thailand," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 36(2), pages 52-70, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    employment; poverty; household consumption; minimum wage; uncovered sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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