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Minimum Wages and the Demand for Labor

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  • Daniel S. Hamermesh

Abstract

I formulate measures of the effective minimum wage, based on broad definitions of the labor costs that face employers, and use these measures in reestimating some simple equations relating the relative employment of youths and adults to the U.S. minimum wage using aggregate data for 1954-78.I then ground the model more closely in the theory of factor demand, first by adding the relative wages of youths and adults to the equation describing their relative employment, and then by specifying a complete system of demand equations for these two types of labor. Teen employment responds quite robustly to changes in the effective minimum in these specifications, with an elasticity of -0.1. A translog cost function defined over young workers, adults, and capital shows that the effective minimum wage reduces employers' ability to substitute other factors for young workers. Using both sets of results, I find that a subminimum wage for youths would have increased their employment with at most a small loss of jobs among adults.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1981. "Minimum Wages and the Demand for Labor," NBER Working Papers 0656, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0656
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Grant, James H & Hamermesh, Daniel S, 1981. "Labor Market Competition among Youths, White Women and Others," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(3), pages 354-360, August.
    2. Daniel S. Hamermesh & James Grant, 1979. "Econometric Studies of Labor-Labor Substitution and Their Implications for Policy," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 14(4), pages 543-562.
    3. Siskind, Frederic B, 1977. "Minimum Wage Legislation in the United States: Comment," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 15(1), pages 135-138, January.
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    5. Ragan, James F, Jr, 1977. "Minimum Wages and the Youth Labor Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 59(2), pages 129-136, May.
    6. Ashenfelter, Orley & Smith, Robert S, 1979. "Compliance with the Minimum Wage Law," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(2), pages 333-350, April.
    7. Hamermesh, Daniel S, 1995. "Labour Demand and the," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(430), pages 620-634, May.
    8. Richard B. Freeman, 1979. "The Effect of Demographic Factors on Age-Earnings Profiles," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 14(3), pages 289-318.
    9. Welch, Finis, 1974. "Minimum Wage Legislation in the United States," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 12(3), pages 285-318, September.
    10. Berndt, Ernst R & Christensen, Laurits R, 1974. "Testing for the Existence of a Consistent Aggregate Index of Labor Inputs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(3), pages 391-404, June.
    11. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1976. "Econometric Studies of Labor Demand and Their Application to Policy Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 11(4), pages 507-525.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lawrence Kahn, 2002. "The Impact of Wage-Setting Institutions on the Incidence of Public Employment in the OECD: 1960-98," CESifo Working Paper Series 757, CESifo.
    2. Teresa Ghilarducci & Michael Papadopoulos & Siavash Radpour, 2017. "Relative Wages in Aging America: The Baby Boomer Effect," SCEPA working paper series. 2017-03, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    3. Catarina Midões & Mateo Seré, 2020. "Living with reduced income: an analysis of household financial vulnerability under COVID-19," Working Papers 2008, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    4. Midões, Catarina & Seré, Mateo, 2020. "Living with Reduced Income: an Analysis of Household Financial Vulnerability Under COVID-19," EUROMOD Working Papers EM21/20, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. David Neumark & William Wascher, 1993. "Employment Effects of Minimum and Subminimum Wages: Reply to Card, Katz and Krueger," NBER Working Papers 4570, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Neumark, David & Wascher, William, 1998. "Is the Time-Series Evidence on Minimum Wage Effects Contaminated by Publication Bias?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(3), pages 458-470, July.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:429-471 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1983. "New Measures of Labor Cost: Implications for Demand Elasticities and Nominal Wage Growth," NBER Chapters, in: The Measurement of Labor Cost, pages 287-308, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. O'Higgins, Niall, 2001. "Youth unemployment and employment policy: a global perspective," MPRA Paper 23698, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Charles Brown & Curtis Gilroy & Andrew Kohen, 1983. "Time-Series Evidence of the Effect of the Minimum Wage on Youth Employment and Unemployment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 18(1), pages 3-31.
    11. John F. Boschen & Herschel I. Grossman, 1981. "Employment Effects of the Federal Minimum Wage," NBER Working Papers 0812, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Gabriela Galassi, 2021. "Labor Demand Response to Labor Supply Incentives: Lessons from the German Mini-Job Reform," Staff Working Papers 21-15, Bank of Canada.
    13. Catarina Midões & Mateo Seré, 2022. "Living with Reduced Income: An Analysis of Household Financial Vulnerability Under COVID-19," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 125-149, May.
    14. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2101-2163 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Galassi, Gabriela, 2021. "Labor Demand Response to Labor Supply Incentives: Lessons from the German Mini-Job Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 14248, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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