Do minimum wages raise employment? Evidence from the U.S. retail-trade sector

John Addison, McKinley Blackburn () and Chad Cotti

Labour Economics, 2009, vol. 16, issue 4, 397-408

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of minimum wages on earnings and employment in selected branches of the retail-trade sector, 1990-2005, using county-level data on employment and a panel regression framework that allows for county-specific trends in sectoral outcomes. We focus on specific subsectors within retail trade that are identified as particularly low-wage. We find little evidence of disemployment effects once we allow for geographic-specific trends. Indeed, in many sectors the evidence points to modest (but robust) positive employment effects.

Keywords: Minimum; wages; Wages; and; employment; County-level; data; Spatial; trends; Border; county; analysis; Unions; Right-to-work; states (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (66)

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