Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232630 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13878
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We use the substantial variation in both the magnitude and frequency of minimum wage changes that have occurred in China since its new minimum wage regulations in 2004 to estimate their impact on wages, wage spillovers, and employment. We use county-level minimum wage data merged with individual-level longitudinal data from the Urban Household Survey for the period 2004–09, spanning the period after the new minimum wage regulations were put in place. Our results indicate that minimum wage increases raise the wages of otherwise low-wage workers by a little less than half (41%) of the minimum wage increases. Depending upon the specification, these wage effects also lead to a 2 to 4 percentage point reduction in the probability of being employed, with a 2.8 percentage point reduction being our preferred estimate. We also find statistically significant but very small wage spillovers for those whose wages are just above the new minimum wage, but they are effectively zero for those higher up in the wage distribution.
Subjects: 
minimum wage
China
wages
employment
wage spillovers
JEL: 
J38
J88
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
602.68 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.