Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/52528 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
DIW Discussion Papers No. 1111
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
The very first minimum wage in Germany was introduced in 1997 for blue-collar workers in sub-sectors of the construction industry. In the setting of a natural experiment blue-collar workers in neighboring 4-digit-industries and white-collar workers are used as control groups for differences-in-differences-in-differences estimation based on linked employer-employee data. Estimation results reveal a sizable positive average impact on wages in East Germany and no effect in West Germany. Size and significance of effects are not homogeneous across wage regimes (individual vs. collective contracts) and across the distribution suggesting spillover effects to wages where the minimum is not binding.
Subjects: 
minimum wage
construction sector
linked employer-employee data
differences-in-differences-in-differences
unconditional quantile regression
JEL: 
C21
J18
J38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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