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Effects of the Minimum Wage on U.S. County Labor Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Otterby, Dawn
  • Crawley, Andrew
  • Gabe, Todd

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of the minimum wage on U.S. regional labor markets. The empirical analysis uses panel data covering ten years and (most) U.S. counties to examine the relationship between the minimum wage and several key components of the labor market. Following past research, we use data on the number of people in the labor force to represent labor supply, but—as an extension to the literature—we use job postings data as a measure of labor demand. Consistent with previous studies, our findings show a positive relationship between the number of people in the labor force and a county’s minimum wage. The results, however, show that the relationship between job postings and the minimum wage is not statistically significant in the full-sample analysis of U.S. counties. Additional analyses also suggest that metropolitan and urban labor markets react differently to changes in the minimum wage when compared to their non-metropolitan and rural counterparts.

Suggested Citation

  • Otterby, Dawn & Crawley, Andrew & Gabe, Todd, 2023. "Effects of the Minimum Wage on U.S. County Labor Markets," MPRA Paper 116162, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:116162
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R50 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - General

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