Working Paper: NBER ID: w4570
Authors: David Neumark; William Wascher
Abstract: In Neumark and Wascher (1992), we present findings supporting the earlier consensus that minimum wages reduce employment for teens and young adults, with elasticities in the range -0.1 to -0.2. In addition, we find that subminimum wages moderate these disemployment effects. Card, Katz and Krueger (1993) criticize numerous aspects of our analysis, and contest our conclusions. This reply presents an assessment of their arguments, as well as additional evidence related to some of the criticisms that they raise. We conclude that the issues raised by Card, et al., upon further examination, do not alter the conclusions from our original paper, and in some cases even reinforce those conclusions.
Keywords: minimum wages; employment effects; labor economics
JEL Codes: J38; J23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| minimum wages (J38) | employment (J68) |
| subminimum wages (J38) | disemployment effects of minimum wages (J65) |
| school enrollment rates (I21) | disemployment effects (J65) |
| minimum wages (J38) | employment for teenagers (J21) |
| higher coverage of minimum wage laws (J38) | lower employment (J63) |