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The Effect of the Tipped Minimum Wage on Employees in the U.S. Restaurant Industry

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  • William E. Even
  • David A. Macpherson

Abstract

According to federal law in 2013, employers can take a credit of up to $5.12 for tips received by workers in satisfying the minimum‐wage requirement of $7.25. This article uses interstate variation in laws regarding tip credits and minimum wages to identify the effects of reducing or eliminating the tip credit on employment, hours, and earnings in the U.S. restaurant industry. Using data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and the Current Population Survey, we find that a reduction in the tip credit increases weekly earnings but reduces employment in the full‐service restaurant industry and for tipped workers. The results are robust to controls for spatial heterogeneity in employment trends and are supported by a series of falsification tests.

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  • William E. Even & David A. Macpherson, 2014. "The Effect of the Tipped Minimum Wage on Employees in the U.S. Restaurant Industry," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(3), pages 633-655, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:80:y:2014:i:3:p:633-655
    DOI: 10.4284/0038-4038-2012.283
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    Cited by:

    1. Loukas Karabarbounis & Jeremy Lise & Anusha Nath, 2022. "Minimum Wages and Labor Markets in the Twin Cities," NBER Working Papers 30239, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. David Neumark & Maysen Yen, 2023. "The employment and redistributive effects of reducing or eliminating minimum wage tip credits," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 1092-1116, September.
    3. Joseph J. Sabia & Richard V. Burkhauser & Taylor Mackay, 2018. "Minimum Cash Wages, Tipped Restaurant Workers, and Poverty," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 637-670, October.
    4. Dale Belman & Paul Wolfson & Kritkorn Nawakitphaitoon, 2015. "Who Is Affected by the Minimum Wage?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 582-621, October.
    5. Sylvia Allegretto & Carl Nadler, 2015. "Tipped Wage Effects on Earnings and Employment in Full-Service Restaurants," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 622-647, October.

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