Raising Lower-Level Wages: When and Why It Makes Economic Sense

As the United States emerges from the Great Recession, concern is rising over the issues of income inequality, stagnation of wages, and especially the struggles of lower-skilled workers at the bottom end of the wage scale. A number of major American employers—for example, Aetna and Walmart—have begun to voluntarily raise the pay of their own lowest-paid employees. In this collection of essays, economists from the Peterson Institute for International Economics analyze the potential benefits and costs of widespread wage increases for lower-skilled workers, if adopted by a relevant share of US private employers. The PIIE fellows conclude that raising the pay of many of the lowest-paid US private-sector workers would not only reduce income inequality but also boost overall productivity growth, with likely minimal effect on employment in the current financial context.