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Employment Adjustments Following Rises and Reductions in Minimum Wages: New Insights From a Survey Experiment

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  • Mario Bossler
  • Michael Oberfichtner
  • Claus Schnabel

Abstract

The effects of large minimum wage increases are still unknown. Our survey experiment randomly assigns increases or decreases in minimum wages to German establishments and asks about employers’ expectations concerning employment adjustments. The larger the increase in the minimum wage is, the larger the expected reduction in employment. The reduction is stronger in plants that are more strongly affected by the current national minimum wage and in plants that have neither collective agreements nor a works council. In contrast, employment expectations do not increase if the minimum wage is reduced. This mainly reflects that few plants would cut wages.

Suggested Citation

  • Mario Bossler & Michael Oberfichtner & Claus Schnabel, 2020. "Employment Adjustments Following Rises and Reductions in Minimum Wages: New Insights From a Survey Experiment," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 34(3), pages 323-346, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:34:y:2020:i:3:p:323-346
    DOI: 10.1111/labr.12168
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    Cited by:

    1. Bazen, Stephen & Marimoutou, Velayoudom, 2018. "Federal minimum wage hikes do reduce teenage employment: A replication study of Bazen & Marimoutou (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2002)," International Journal for Re-Views in Empirical Economics (IREE), ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 2(2018-5), pages 1-13.
    2. Mario Bossler & Thorsten Schank, 2023. "Wage Inequality in Germany after the Minimum Wage Introduction," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(3), pages 813-857.
    3. Mario Bossler & Nicole Gürtzgen & Alexander Kubis & Benjamin Küfner & Benjamin Lochner, 2020. "The IAB Job Vacancy Survey: design and research potential," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Arne Heise & Toralf Pusch, 2021. "Die „Harmonie der Täuschungen“ muss enden, damit Politikberatung glaubwürdiger wird," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(12), pages 940-942, December.

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    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

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