IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/germec/v14y2013i3p316-348.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Turning the Switch: An Evaluation of the Minimum Wage in the German Electrical Trade Using Repeated Natural Experiments

Author

Listed:
  • Bernhard Boockmann
  • Raimund Krumm
  • Michael Neumann
  • Pia Rattenhuber

Abstract

The introduction, abolition and subsequent re-introduction of the minimum wage in the German electrical trade gave rise to series of natural experiments, which are used to study minimum wage effects. We find similar impacts in all three cases on wages, employment and the receipt of public welfare benefits. Average wages are raised by the minimum wage in East Germany, but there is almost no evidence for employment effects. The results also show that the wage effect is quickly undone after the abolition of the minimum wage.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Bernhard Boockmann & Raimund Krumm & Michael Neumann & Pia Rattenhuber, 2013. "Turning the Switch: An Evaluation of the Minimum Wage in the German Electrical Trade Using Repeated Natural Experiments," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 14(3), pages 316-348, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:14:y:2013:i:3:p:316-348
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/geer.12016
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michèle Belot & Jan C. van Ours, 2004. "Does the recent success of some OECD countries in lowering their unemployment rates lie in the clever design of their labor market reforms?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 621-642, October.
    2. Bachmann, Ronald & Bauer, Thomas K. & Kluve, Jochen & Schaffner, Sandra & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2008. "Mindestlöhne in Deutschland: Beschäftigungswirkungen und fiskalische Effekte," RWI Materialien 43, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    3. Pia Rattenhuber, 2011. "Building the Minimum Wage: Germany's First Sectoral Minimum Wage and Its Impact on Wages in the Construction Industry," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1111, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1994. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 772-793, September.
    5. Bruno Amable & Donatella Gatti, 2006. "Labor and product market reforms: questioning policy complementarity," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 15(1), pages 101-122, February.
    6. Aretz Bodo & Gregory Terry & Arntz Melanie, 2013. "The Minimum Wage Affects Them All: Evidence on Employment Spillovers in the Roofing Sector," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 282-315, August.
    7. Blanchard, Olivier & Wolfers, Justin, 2000. "The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 1-33, March.
    8. Juan Dolado & Francis Kramarz & Steven Machin & Alan Manning & David Margolis & Coen Teulings, 1996. "The Economic Impact of Minimum Wages in Europe," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00353896, HAL.
    9. Bernhard Boockmann, 2010. "The Combined Employment Effects of Minimum Wages and Labor Market Regulation—a Meta-Analysis," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 61(Supplemen), pages 167-188.
    10. Bachmann, Ronald & König, Marion & Schaffner, Sandra, 2012. "Lost in Transition? Minimum Wage Effects on German Construction Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 6760, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Meyer, Robert H & Wise, David A, 1983. "The Effects of the Minimum Wage on the Employment and Earnings of Youth," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 66-100, January.
    12. Puhani, Patrick A., 2012. "The treatment effect, the cross difference, and the interaction term in nonlinear “difference-in-differences” models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 85-87.
    13. Danziger, Leif, 2010. "Endogenous monopsony and the perverse effect of the minimum wage in small firms," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 224-229, January.
    14. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1994. "Policy Transferability and Hysteresis: Daily and Weekly Hours in the BRD and the US," NBER Working Papers 4773, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Sara Lemos, 2004. "The Effects Of The Minimum Wage On Wages And Employment In Brazil - A Menu Of Minimum Wage Variables," Labor and Demography 0403008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Sara Lemos, 2009. "Comparing employment estimates using different minimum wage variables: the case of Brazil," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 405-425.
    17. Sara Lemos, 2004. "Are Wage and Employment Effects Robust to Alternative Minimum Wage Variables?," Discussion Papers in Economics 04/4, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    18. Neumark, David & Wascher, William L., 2007. "Minimum Wages and Employment," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 3(1–2), pages 1-182, March.
    19. Armin Falk & Ernst Fehr & Christian Zehnder, "undated". "The Behavioral Effects of Minimum Wages," IEW - Working Papers 247, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    20. Lechner, Michael, 2011. "The Estimation of Causal Effects by Difference-in-Difference Methods," Foundations and Trends(R) in Econometrics, now publishers, vol. 4(3), pages 165-224, November.
    21. Jennifer Hunt, 2000. "Firing Costs, Employment Fluctuations and Average Employment: An Examination of Germany," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 67(266), pages 177-202, May.
    22. Oberschachtsiek, Dirk & Scioch, Patrycja & Seysen, Christian & Heining, Jörg, 2009. "Stichprobe der Integrierten Erwerbsbiografien IEBS : Handbuch für die IEBS in der Fassung 2008," FDZ Datenreport. Documentation on Labour Market Data 200903_de, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    23. Wolfgang Franz & Friedhelm Pfeiffer, 2006. "Reasons for Wage Rigidity in Germany," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 20(2), pages 255-284, June.
    24. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "The Determinants of Unemployment across OECD Countries," Post-Print halshs-00120584, HAL.
    25. Burkhauser, Richard V & Couch, Kenneth A & Wittenburg, David C, 2000. "A Reassessment of the New Economics of the Minimum Wage Literature with Monthly Data from the Current Population Survey," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(4), pages 653-680, October.
    26. Armin Falk & Ernst Fehr & Christian Zehnder, 2006. "Fairness Perceptions and Reservation Wages—the Behavioral Effects of Minimum Wage Laws," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(4), pages 1347-1381.
    27. repec:zbw:rwimat:043 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bossler, Mario & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Lochner, Benjamin & Betzl, Ute & Feist, Lisa, 2018. "The German minimum wage: Effects on business expectations, profitability, and investments," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 13/2018, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    2. Schumann, Mathias, 2017. "The effects of minimum wages on firm-financed apprenticeship training," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 163-181.
    3. Thomas Werner & Friedrich L. Sell, 2015. "Price Effects of the Minimum Wage: A Survey Data Analysis for the German Construction Sector," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(3), pages 310-326, September.
    4. Caliendo Marco & Wittbrodt Linda & Schröder Carsten, 2019. "The Causal Effects of the Minimum Wage Introduction in Germany – An Overview," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 257-292, August.
    5. Börschlein, Erik-Benjamin & Bossler, Mario, 2019. "Eine Bilanz nach fünf Jahren gesetzlicher Mindestlohn: Positive Lohneffekte, kaum Beschäftigungseffekte (Five Years of statutory minimum wage in Germany: Significant wage effects, barely any employmen," IAB-Kurzbericht 201924, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    6. Böckerman, Petri & Juuti, Toni & Kosonen, Tuomas & Keränen, Henri, 2024. "Are Firms Willing to Pay Lower Wages? A Quasi-Experiment on Subminimum Wage Policy," Working Papers 169, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Gürtzgen, Nicole & Blömer, Maximilian & Pohlan, Laura & Stichnoth, Holger & van den Berg, Gerard, 2016. "Estimating an Equilibrium Job Search Model for the German Labour Market," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145950, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Bernhard Boockmann & Michael Neumann & Pia Rattenhuber, 2012. "Mindestlohnregelungen im Maler- und Lackiererhandwerk: Eine Wirkungsanalyse [An impact analysis of the minimum wage in the German painter and varnisher trades]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 45(3), pages 331-353, December.
    9. Mario Bossler, 2017. "Employment expectations and uncertainties ahead of the new German minimum wage," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(4), pages 327-348, September.
    10. Mario Bossler & Hans-Dieter Gerner, 2020. "Employment Effects of the New German Minimum Wage: Evidence from Establishment-Level Microdata," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(5), pages 1070-1094, October.
    11. Bredemeier, Christian & Juessen, Falko, 2012. "Minimum Wages and Female Labor Supply in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 6892, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Bossler, Mario & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Lochner, Benjamin & Betzl, Ute & Feist, Lisa & Wegmann, Jakob, 2018. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Betriebe und Unternehmen," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201804, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    13. Werner, Thomas & Sell, Friedrich L. & Reinisch, David C., 2013. "Price effects of minimum wages: Evidence from the construction sector in East and West Germany," Working Papers in Economics 2013,4, Bundeswehr University Munich, Economic Research Group.
    14. Kugler Franziska & Schwerdt Guido & Wößmann Ludger, 2014. "Ökonometrische Methoden zur Evaluierung kausaler Effekte der Wirtschaftspolitik," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 105-132, June.
    15. Kellermann, Kim Leonie, 2017. "Minimum wages and vocational training incentives in Germany," CIW Discussion Papers 3/2017, University of Münster, Center for Interdisciplinary Economics (CIW).
    16. Alan Manning, 2013. "Minimum Wages: A View from the UK," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 14(1-2), pages 57-66, February.
    17. Bellmann, Lutz & Bossler, Mario & Gerner, Hans-Dieter & Hübler, Olaf, 2015. "IAB-Betriebspanel: Reichweite des Mindestlohns in deutschen Betrieben (The New Federal Minimum Wage in Germany : Affectedness of German Establishments)," IAB-Kurzbericht 201506, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    18. Micheli, Martin, 2016. "Minimum wage: Redistributive or discriminatory policy?," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145830, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Kunaschk, Max, 2024. "The effects of minimum wages on employment and prices—Evidence from the hairdressing sector," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    20. Schmitz, Sebastian, 2017. "The effects of Germany's new minimum wage on employment and welfare dependency," Discussion Papers 2017/21, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    21. Blömer, Maximilian J. & Guertzgen, Nicole & Pohlan, Laura & Stichnoth, Holger & van den Berg, Gerard J., 2018. "Unemployment effects of the German minimum wage in an equilibrium job search model," ZEW Discussion Papers 18-032, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bossler, Mario & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Lochner, Benjamin & Betzl, Ute & Feist, Lisa & Wegmann, Jakob, 2018. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Betriebe und Unternehmen," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201804, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Koch, Andreas & Kirchmann, Andrea & Reiner, Marcel & Scheu, Tobias & Boockmann, Bernhard & Bonin, Holger, 2018. "Verhaltensmuster von Betrieben und Beschäftigten im Zuge der Einführung des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns," IZA Research Reports 84, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Pestel, Nico & Bonin, Holger & Isphording, Ingo E. & Gregory, Terry & Caliendo, Marco, 2020. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Beschäftigung und Arbeitslosigkeit," IZA Research Reports 95, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Arni, Patrick & Eichhorst, Werner & Pestel, Nico & Spermann, Alexander & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2014. "Kein Mindestlohn ohne unabhängige wissenschaftliche Evaluation," IZA Standpunkte 65, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Lemos Sara, 2005. "Political Variables as Instruments for the Minimum Wage," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-31, December.
    6. Carla Canelas, 2014. "Minimum Wage and Informality in Ecuador," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-006, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. König, Marion & Möller, Joachim, 2007. "Mindestlohneffekte des Entsendegesetzes? : eine Mikrodatenanalyse für die deutsche Bauwirtschaft (Minimum wage effects of the worker posting law? : a micro data analysis for the German construction se," IAB-Discussion Paper 200730, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    8. John T. Addison & Orgul Demet Ozturk, 2012. "Minimum Wages, Labor Market Institutions, and Female Employment: A Cross-Country Analysis," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(4), pages 779-809, October.
    9. Addison, John T. & Ozturk, Orgul Demet, 2010. "Minimum Wages, Labor Market Institutions, and Female Employment and Unemployment: A Cross-Country Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 5162, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    11. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2014-006 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. David Neumark & William Wascher, 2006. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Review of Evidence from the New Minimum Wage Research," NBER Working Papers 12663, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Feldmann, Horst, 2009. "The unemployment effects of labor regulation around the world," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 76-90, March.
    14. Petri Böckerman & Roope Uusitalo, 2009. "Minimum Wages and Youth Employment: Evidence from the Finnish Retail Trade Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 388-405, June.
    15. Möller, Joachim & König, Marion, 2008. "Mindestlohneffekte des Entsendegesetzes? : eine Mikrodatenanalyse für die deutsche Bauwirtschaft (Minimum wage effects of the worker posting law? : a micro data analysis for the German construction se," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(2/3), pages 327-346.
    16. Tomas Kucera, 2020. "Are Employment Effects of Minimum Wage the Same Across the EU? A Meta-Regression Analysis," Working Papers IES 2020/2, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jan 2020.
    17. Sara Lemos, 2004. "A Menu of Minimum Wage Variables for Evaluating Wages and Employment Effects: Evidence from Brazil," Discussion Papers in Economics 04/3, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    18. Bernhard Boockmann, 2010. "The Combined Employment Effects of Minimum Wages and Labor Market Regulation—a Meta-Analysis," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 61(Supplemen), pages 167-188.
    19. Pedro Portugal & Ana Rute Cardoso, 2006. "Disentangling the Minimum Wage Puzzle: An Analysis of Worker Accessions and Separations," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(5), pages 988-1013, September.
    20. Marco Caliendo & Carsten Schröder & Linda Wittbrodt, 2019. "The Causal Effects of the Minimum Wage Introduction in Germany – An Overview," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(3), pages 257-292, August.
    21. Joachim Möller, 2012. "Minimum wages in German industries—what does the evidence tell us so far? [Branchenspezifische Mindestlöhne in Deutschland – Was sagt uns die empirische Forschung?]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 45(3), pages 187-199, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:14:y:2013:i:3:p:316-348. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfsocea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.