Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers?

This policy note reviews the literature on the effects of minimum wages on labor markets in developing countries. The authors begin by elucidating the challenges to ascertaining these effects, especially in developing economies where a large segmen...

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Main Authors: Terrell, Katherine, Almeida, Rita K.
Format: Brief
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/12/10158898/minimum-wages-developing-countries-helping-or-hurting-workers
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11742
id okr-10986-11742
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-117422021-04-23T14:02:57Z Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers? Terrell, Katherine Almeida, Rita K. AVERAGE WAGE COMPETITIVE MODEL DISPLACED WORKERS DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME EARNING EARNINGS EARNINGS DISTRIBUTION ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT EFFECT EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS EMPLOYMENT POLICY FIRING COSTS FIRM SIZE GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM HOUSEHOLD INCOMES HUMAN RESOURCES INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INFORMAL SECTOR JOB SECURITY JOBS LABOR COSTS LABOR DEMAND LABOR DEMAND ELASTICITIES LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR LAW LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET INSTITUTIONS LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES LABOR MARKETS LABOR RELATIONS LABOR SUPPLY LABOR UNIONS LABOUR LABOUR OFFICE LARGE FIRM LARGE FIRMS MARKET WAGE MINIMUM WAGE MINIMUM WAGES OCCUPATION PAID WORKERS PRESENT EVIDENCE PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES PROBABILITY SAFETY SAFETY NETS SALARIED WORKER SECONDARY EDUCATION SERVANTS SOCIAL PROTECTION UNEMPLOYED UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS UNEMPLOYMENT RATE WAGE DISTRIBUTION WAGE EFFECT WAGE EFFECTS WAGE GAIN WAGE INCREASE WAGE INCREASES WAGE STRUCTURE WORK FORCE WORKERS WORTH This policy note reviews the literature on the effects of minimum wages on labor markets in developing countries. The authors begin by elucidating the challenges to ascertaining these effects, especially in developing economies where a large segment of the workforce is not covered by minimum wage legislation (uncovered sector). After summarizing the theoretical models and their predictions, the authors review the empirical evidence of the impact of minimum wage legislation on wages, employment, and unemployment in the covered and uncovered sectors of the labor market. The evidence strongly suggests that an increase in the minimum wage tends to have a positive wage effect and a small negative employment effect among workers covered by minimum wage legislation and that the effects tend to be stronger among low-wage workers. The findings are quite limited and fairly inconclusive on the indirect effects of increases in minimum wages on workers in the uncovered sectors, where the legislation either does not apply or is not complied with. 2012-08-13T15:53:41Z 2012-08-13T15:53:41Z 2008-12 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/12/10158898/minimum-wages-developing-countries-helping-or-hurting-workers http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11742 English World Bank Employment Policy Primer; No. 10 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Brief Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic AVERAGE WAGE
COMPETITIVE MODEL
DISPLACED WORKERS
DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
EARNING
EARNINGS
EARNINGS DISTRIBUTION
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT EFFECT
EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS
EMPLOYMENT POLICY
FIRING COSTS
FIRM SIZE
GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM
HOUSEHOLD INCOMES
HUMAN RESOURCES
INCOME
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INFORMAL SECTOR
JOB SECURITY
JOBS
LABOR COSTS
LABOR DEMAND
LABOR DEMAND ELASTICITIES
LABOR ECONOMICS
LABOR FORCE
LABOR LAW
LABOR MARKET
LABOR MARKET INSTITUTIONS
LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES
LABOR MARKETS
LABOR RELATIONS
LABOR SUPPLY
LABOR UNIONS
LABOUR
LABOUR OFFICE
LARGE FIRM
LARGE FIRMS
MARKET WAGE
MINIMUM WAGE
MINIMUM WAGES
OCCUPATION
PAID WORKERS
PRESENT EVIDENCE
PRIMARY EDUCATION
PRIVATE SECTOR
PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES
PROBABILITY
SAFETY
SAFETY NETS
SALARIED WORKER
SECONDARY EDUCATION
SERVANTS
SOCIAL PROTECTION
UNEMPLOYED
UNEMPLOYMENT
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
WAGE DISTRIBUTION
WAGE EFFECT
WAGE EFFECTS
WAGE GAIN
WAGE INCREASE
WAGE INCREASES
WAGE STRUCTURE
WORK FORCE
WORKERS
WORTH
spellingShingle AVERAGE WAGE
COMPETITIVE MODEL
DISPLACED WORKERS
DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
EARNING
EARNINGS
EARNINGS DISTRIBUTION
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT EFFECT
EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS
EMPLOYMENT POLICY
FIRING COSTS
FIRM SIZE
GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM
HOUSEHOLD INCOMES
HUMAN RESOURCES
INCOME
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INFORMAL SECTOR
JOB SECURITY
JOBS
LABOR COSTS
LABOR DEMAND
LABOR DEMAND ELASTICITIES
LABOR ECONOMICS
LABOR FORCE
LABOR LAW
LABOR MARKET
LABOR MARKET INSTITUTIONS
LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES
LABOR MARKETS
LABOR RELATIONS
LABOR SUPPLY
LABOR UNIONS
LABOUR
LABOUR OFFICE
LARGE FIRM
LARGE FIRMS
MARKET WAGE
MINIMUM WAGE
MINIMUM WAGES
OCCUPATION
PAID WORKERS
PRESENT EVIDENCE
PRIMARY EDUCATION
PRIVATE SECTOR
PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES
PROBABILITY
SAFETY
SAFETY NETS
SALARIED WORKER
SECONDARY EDUCATION
SERVANTS
SOCIAL PROTECTION
UNEMPLOYED
UNEMPLOYMENT
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
WAGE DISTRIBUTION
WAGE EFFECT
WAGE EFFECTS
WAGE GAIN
WAGE INCREASE
WAGE INCREASES
WAGE STRUCTURE
WORK FORCE
WORKERS
WORTH
Terrell, Katherine
Almeida, Rita K.
Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers?
relation World Bank Employment Policy Primer; No. 10
description This policy note reviews the literature on the effects of minimum wages on labor markets in developing countries. The authors begin by elucidating the challenges to ascertaining these effects, especially in developing economies where a large segment of the workforce is not covered by minimum wage legislation (uncovered sector). After summarizing the theoretical models and their predictions, the authors review the empirical evidence of the impact of minimum wage legislation on wages, employment, and unemployment in the covered and uncovered sectors of the labor market. The evidence strongly suggests that an increase in the minimum wage tends to have a positive wage effect and a small negative employment effect among workers covered by minimum wage legislation and that the effects tend to be stronger among low-wage workers. The findings are quite limited and fairly inconclusive on the indirect effects of increases in minimum wages on workers in the uncovered sectors, where the legislation either does not apply or is not complied with.
format Publications & Research :: Brief
author Terrell, Katherine
Almeida, Rita K.
author_facet Terrell, Katherine
Almeida, Rita K.
author_sort Terrell, Katherine
title Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers?
title_short Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers?
title_full Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers?
title_fullStr Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers?
title_full_unstemmed Minimum Wages in Developing Countries : Helping or Hurting Workers?
title_sort minimum wages in developing countries : helping or hurting workers?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/12/10158898/minimum-wages-developing-countries-helping-or-hurting-workers
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11742
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