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National minimum wage and employment of young workers in the UK

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  • J. D. Tena
  • Jan Fidrmuc

Abstract

We analyze the impact of the UK national minimum wage (NMW) on the employment of young workers. The previous literature found little evidence of an adverse impact of the NMW on the UK labor market. We focus on the age-related increases in the NMW at 18 and 22 years of age. Using regression discontinuity design, we fail to find any effect of turning 22. However, we find a significant and negative employment effect for male workers at 21, which we believe to be an anticipation effect. We also find a negative effect for both genders upon turning 18. The age-related NMW increases may have an adverse effect on employment of young workers, with this effect possibly occurring already well in advance of reaching the threshold age.

Suggested Citation

  • J. D. Tena & Jan Fidrmuc, 2013. "National minimum wage and employment of young workers in the UK," Discussion Papers 12, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).
    • Handle: RePEc:cel:dpaper:12
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Richard Dickens & Rebecca Riley & David Wilkinson, 2015. "A Re-examination of the Impact of the UK National Minimum Wage on Employment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 82(328), pages 841-864, October.
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    7. Imbens, Guido W. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 615-635, February.
    8. Rohlin, Shawn M., 2011. "State minimum wages and business location: Evidence from a refined border approach," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 103-117, January.
    9. Lee, David S. & Card, David, 2008. "Regression discontinuity inference with specification error," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 655-674, February.
    10. Richard Dickens & Alan Manning, 2004. "Spikes and spill-overs: The impact of the national minimum wage on the wage distribution in a low-wage sector," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(494), pages 95-101, March.
    11. Wiji Arulampalam & Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2004. "Training and the new minimum wage," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(494), pages 87-94, March.
    12. Brian A. Jacob & Lars Lefgren, 2004. "Remedial Education and Student Achievement: A Regression-Discontinuity Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 226-244, February.
    13. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kabátek, Jan, 2015. "Happy Birthday, You're Fired! The Effects of Age-Dependent Minimum Wage on Youth Employment Flows in the Netherlands," IZA Discussion Papers 9528, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Grace Lordan, 2019. "People versus machines in the UK: Minimum wages, labor reallocation and automatable jobs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Kelly, Elish & McGuinness, Seamus, 2017. "A study of sub-minimum wage rates for young people," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT327, june.
    4. Ganong, Peter & Jäger, Simon, 2014. "A Permutation Test and Estimation Alternatives for the Regression Kink Design," IZA Discussion Papers 8282, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Maria Marimpi & Pierre Koning, 2018. "Youth minimum wages and youth employment," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    6. repec:hrv:faseco:34222894 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Amlinger, Marc & Bispinck, Reinhard & Schulten, Thorsten, 2014. "Jugend ohne Mindestlohn? Zur Diskussion um Ausnahme- und Sonderregelungen für junge Beschäftigte," WSI Reports 14, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    minimum wage; employment; young workers; regression discontinuity design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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