L’effet du salaire minimum sur le chômage des jeunes et des femmes au Québec: une réestimation et un réexamen de la question

Jean-Michel Cousineau
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Jean-Michel Cousineau: École de relations industrielles, Université de Montréal

L'Actualité Economique, 1991, vol. 67, issue 2, 144-165

Abstract: This article shows that a 10 percentage point change in the relative minimum wages in Québec induces a 1,3 percentage point increase in both the youth and female unemployment rates. The methodology uses the youth (less than 25 years old) and females (all ages) unemployment rates as the dependent variables in a model that considers minimum wages, supply and demand variables as the main explanatory factors. The paper however attempts to re-specifiy the supply variable in order to take account of the competition between youth and females or other groups of labour for the same or similar jobs requiring less or fewer experience in the labour market. It also discusses the place and significance of such unemployment rate models in the literature, the problems associated with the consideration of structural or "natural" unemployment, the possible non linear type relationship between minimum wages and unemployment, and the question of asymetric effects between periods of high increasing or low decreasing relative minimum wages. The new model shows great robustness and stability over varying sample periods. Les résultats d’estimation auxquels en arrive cette étude sont à l’effet qu’une hausse du salaire minimum relatif de 10 points de pourcentage contribue à accroître le chômage des jeunes et des femmes au Québec de l’ordre de 1,3 point de pourcentage dans chacun des cas.

Date: 1991
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:actuec:v:67:y:1991:i:2:p:144-165

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