The Impact of the 1896 Factory and Shops Act on Victorian Labour Markets

Andrew Seltzer () and Jeff Borland

No 10388, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of the Victorian Factory and Shops Act, the first minimum wage law in Australia. The Act differed from modern minimum wage laws in that it established Special Boards, which set trade-specific minimum wage schedules. We use trade-level data on average wages, employment, and other outcomes to examine the effects of changes in minimum wages. Although the minimum wages were binding, we find that the effects on employment and other outcomes were modest. We speculate that this was partly because the Special Boards, which were comprised mostly of employers and union officials, followed labour market conditions when setting wages for their trades.

Keywords: Factory and Shops Act; Australia; minimum wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J38 N37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2016-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-law
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Journal of Economic History, 2018, 78 (3), 785-821

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