Effects on Minimum Wages on the Age Composition of Youth Employment.

摘要

The purpose of this paper is: (1) to present estimates of effects of minimum wages on the age composition of youth employment, and (2) to decompose these estimates into scale and substitution components for calculating effects of differential minima. A number of recent legislative proposals have included provisions for youth differentials. The point of departure for all empirical studies of minimum wages has been that those whose employment will be most adversely affected are those who in the absence of the minumum would have earned the lowest wage. In comparing teenagers to adults, there is fairly consistent evidence that minimum wages reduce teenage-adult employment ratios. This, of course, supports the substitution idea. But there is less evidence among groups of teenagers themselves.