Careers of Minimum Wage Workers

Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Louis Maiden

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: We characterize the careers of minimum wage workers by merging SIPP panels covering 1992-2016 into the LEHD. A long-run analysis shows strong earnings growth for these workers in subsequent decades, becoming indistinguishable from peers earning modestly more initially. Most of this growth is due to the steep earnings trajectories of young workers. Older workers earning minimum wages show a modest dip in earnings at that moment compared to earlier and later periods. Increases in state minimum wages do not significantly alter the future careers of workers who are on the minimum wage when the increases occur.

Keywords: Minimum wage; career trajectories; mobility; poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 E24 J21 J31 J38 J62 J78 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-inv and nep-lma
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https://www2.census.gov/library/working-papers/2026/adrm/ces/CES-WP-26-07.pdf First version, 2026 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:26-07

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