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A Re‐examination of the Impact of the UK National Minimum Wage on Employment
Author(s) -
Dickens Richard,
Riley Rebecca,
Wilkinson David
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/ecca.12158
Subject(s) - recession , minimum wage , labour economics , economics , work (physics) , raising (metalworking) , wage , low wage , great recession , demographic economics , work hours , working hours , engineering , keynesian economics , mechanical engineering
Early work on the national minimum wage ( NMW ) suggested that policymakers in the UK had succeeded in raising the pay of low‐paid workers without impairing their employment prospects. This paper shows that when we focus on the most vulnerable workers, part‐time females, the NMW appears to be associated with reductions in employment retention. These negative impacts were evident when the NMW was introduced and also when it was increased faster than average wages in the mid‐2000s. We also show that these falls in employment among part‐time females are exacerbated by the recession.