Editing Minimum wage (section)

==Debate over consequences==
[[File:Fight for $15 on 4-15 (17161520871).jpg|thumb|right|Protesters in [[New York City]] call for an increased minimum wage as part of the "[[Fight for $15]]" movement to require a US$15 per hour minimum wage, 2015.|upright=1.15]]
Minimum wage laws affect workers in most low-paid fields of employment<ref name="Neumark" /> and have usually been judged against the criterion of reducing poverty.<ref name="Palgrave1987">{{cite book | last = Eatwell | first = John |author2=Murray Milgate |author3=Peter Newman | title = The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics | publisher = The Macmillan Press Limited | year = 1987 | location = London | pages = 476–78 | isbn = 978-0-333-37235-7 }}</ref> Minimum wage laws receive less support from economists than from the general public. Despite decades of experience and economic research, debates about the costs and benefits of minimum wages continue today.<ref name="Neumark" />

Various groups have great ideological, political, financial, and emotional investments in issues surrounding minimum wage laws. For example, agencies that administer the laws have a vested interest in showing that "their" laws do not create unemployment, as do labor unions whose members' finances are protected by minimum wage laws. On the other side of the issue, low-wage employers such as restaurants finance the Employment Policies Institute, which has released numerous studies opposing the minimum wage.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Harry |last1=Bernstein |title=Troubling Facts on Employment |work=Los Angeles Times |date=15 September 1992 |page=D3 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-15-fi-836-story.html |access-date=6 December 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217204239/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-09-15/business/fi-836_1_part-time-jobs |archive-date=17 December 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Erik |last1=Engquist |date=May 2006 |title=Health bill fight nears showdown |journal=Crain's New York Business |volume=22 |issue=20 |page=1}}</ref> The presence of these powerful groups and factors means that the debate on the issue is not always based on dispassionate analysis. Additionally, it is extraordinarily difficult to separate the effects of minimum wage from all the other variables that affect employment.<ref name="SowellBasic" />

Studies have found that minimum wages have the following positive effects: 
* Improves functioning of the low-wage labor market which may be characterized by employer-side market power (monopsony).<ref>{{Cite SSRN |last1=Von Wachter|first1=Till|last2=Taska|first2=Bledi|last3=Marinescu|first3=Ioana Elena|last4=Huet-Vaughn|first4=Emiliano|last5=Azar|first5=José|date=5 July 2019|title=Minimum Wage Employment Effects and Labor Market Concentration |ssrn=3416016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dube|first1=Arindrajit|last2=Lester|first2=T. William|last3=Reich|first3=Michael|date=21 December 2015|title=Minimum Wage Shocks, Employment Flows, and Labor Market Frictions|journal=Journal of Labor Economics|volume=34|issue=3|pages=663–704|doi=10.1086/685449|s2cid=9801353|issn=0734-306X|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/27z0006g}}</ref>
*Raises family incomes at the bottom of the income distribution, and lowers poverty.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rinz|first1=Kevin|last2=Voorheis|first2=John|date=March 2018|title=The Distributional Effects of Minimum Wages: Evidence from Linked Survey and Administrative Data|url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/cpaper/2018-02.html |journal=Carra Working Papers |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |via=Ideas}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dube|first=Arindrajit|title=Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes|journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics|volume=11|issue=4|pages=268–304|doi=10.1257/app.20170085|issn=1945-7782|year=2019|doi-access=free}}</ref>
*Positive impact on small business owners and industry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.businessforafairminimumwage.org/news/00598/st-louis-post-dispatch-holly-sklar-small-businesses-want-minimum-wage-increase|title=Holly Sklar, Small Businesses Want Minimum Wage Increase – Business For a Fair Minimum Wage|publisher=St. Louis Post Dispatch|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117160937/http://www.businessforafairminimumwage.org/news/00598/st-louis-post-dispatch-holly-sklar-small-businesses-want-minimum-wage-increase|archive-date=17 January 2015}}</ref>
* Encourages education,<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.3386/w16355 |title=The Unexpected Long-Run Impact of the Minimum Wage: An Educational Cascade |first=Richard |last=Sutch |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 16355 |date=September 2010 |location=Cambridge, MA |doi-access=free }}</ref> resulting in better paying jobs.
* Increases incentives to take jobs, as opposed to other methods of transferring income to the poor that are not tied to employment (such as food subsidies for the poor or welfare payments for the unemployed).<ref name="freeman paper">{{cite journal |doi=10.1108/01437729410059305 |title=Minimum Wages – Again! |year=1994 |last1=Freeman |first1=Richard B. |journal=International Journal of Manpower |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=8–25}}</ref>
* Increased job growth and creation.<ref name="cepr.net">{{cite web|url=http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/2014-job-creation-in-states-that-raised-the-minimum-wage|title=2014 Job Creation Faster in States that Raised the Minimum Wage|first=Ben|last=Wolcott|date=30 June 2014 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020223951/http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/2014-job-creation-in-states-that-raised-the-minimum-wage|archive-date=20 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="Bloomberg1">{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-05/washington-shows-highest-minimum-wage-state-beats-u-s-with-jobs.html | work=Bloomberg | first=Victoria | last=Stilwell | title=Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation | date=8 March 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110111227/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-05/washington-shows-highest-minimum-wage-state-beats-u-s-with-jobs.html | archive-date=10 January 2015 }}; [https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/would-increasing-the-minimum-wage-create-jobs/282577/ "Would Increasing the Minimum Wage Create Jobs?"], ''[[The Atlantic]]'', Jordan Weissmann, 20 December 2013; [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/10/the-guardian-view-on-raising-the-minimum-wage-slowly-does-it "The Guardian view on raising the minimum wage: slowly does it"], Editorial, ''[[The Guardian]]'', 10 May 2017</ref>
* Encourages efficiency and [[automation]] of industry.<ref>[[Bernard Semmel]], ''Imperialism and Social Reform: English Social-Imperial Thought 1895–1914'' (London: Allen and Unwin, 1960), p. 63.</ref>
* Removes low paying jobs, forcing workers to train for, and move to, higher paying jobs.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.itif.org/pressrelease/itif-report-shows-self-service-technology-new-force-economic-life |title=ITIF Report Shows Self-service Technology a New Force in Economic Life |website=The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation |date=14 April 2010 |access-date=5 October 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119020955/http://www.itif.org/pressrelease/itif-report-shows-self-service-technology-new-force-economic-life |archive-date=19 January 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite SSRN |ssrn=936346 |title=Technology and Labor Regulations |year=2006 |last1=Alesina |first1=Alberto F. |last2=Zeira |first2=Joseph}}</ref>
* Increases technological development. Costly technology that increases business efficiency is more appealing as the price of labor increases.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/labour/employment_standards/fls/research/research11/page03.shtml |title=Minimum Wages in canada : theory, evidence and policy |publisher=Hrsdc.gc.ca |date=7 March 2008 |access-date=5 October 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402010131/http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/labour/employment_standards/fls/research/research11/page03.shtml |archive-date=2 April 2012 }}</ref>
* Encourages people to join the workforce rather than pursuing money through illegal means, e.g., selling illegal drugs<ref>{{cite SSRN |ssrn=545382 |title=Youth Crime and the Minimum Wage |year=2004 |last1=Kallem |first1=Andrew}}</ref>

Studies have found the following negative effects:
* Minimum wage alone is not effective at alleviating poverty, and in fact produces a net increase in poverty due to disemployment effects.<ref>Kosteas, Vasilios D. "Minimum Wage." Encyclopedia of World Poverty. Ed. M. Odekon.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2006. 719–21. SAGE knowledge. Web.</ref>
* As a labor market analogue of political-economic protectionism, it excludes low cost competitors from labor markets and hampers firms in reducing wage costs during trade downturns. This generates various industrial-economic inefficiencies.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Abbott|first=Lewis F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZXStcdlFG8C|title=Statutory Minimum Wage Controls: A Critical Review of Their Effects on Labour Markets, Employment & Incomes|date=2012|publisher=Industrial Systems Research|isbn=978-0-906321-22-5|language=en|edition=2nd}}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref>
* Reduces quantity demanded of workers, either through a reduction in the number of hours worked by individuals, or through a reduction in the number of jobs.<ref>Tupy, Marian L. [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/tupy200405140912.asp ''Minimum Interference''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218125417/http://nationalreview.com/comment/tupy200405140912.asp |date=18 February 2009 }}, National Review Online, 14 May 2004</ref><ref name="The Wages of Politics">{{cite news |url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB116320581226920449 |title=The Wages of Politics |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=11 November 2006 |access-date=6 December 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210232920/http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB116320581226920449 |archive-date=10 December 2013 }}</ref>
* [[Wage/price spiral]]
* Encourages employers to replace low-skilled workers with [[Automation|computers]], such as [[self-checkout]] machines.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/20/worker-pay-vs-automation-tipping-point-may-be-coming-says-this-fast-food-ceo.html|title=Worker pay vs automation tipping point may be coming, says this fast-food CEO|last=Belvedere|first=Matthew|date=20 May 2016|website=CNBC|access-date=22 December 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223062840/http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/20/worker-pay-vs-automation-tipping-point-may-be-coming-says-this-fast-food-ceo.html|archive-date=23 December 2016}}</ref>
* Increases property crime and misery in poor communities by decreasing legal markets of production and consumption in those communities;<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 725504|title = The Minimum Wage Law and Youth Crimes: Time-Series Evidence|journal = The Journal of Law & Economics|volume = 30|issue = 2|pages = 443–464|last1 = Hashimoto|first1 = Masanori|year = 1987|doi = 10.1086/467144|s2cid = 153649565}}</ref>
* Can result in the exclusion of certain groups (ethnic, gender etc.) from the labor force.<ref>{{cite book |title=South Africa's War Against Capitalism |last=Williams |first=Walter |year=1989 |publisher=Praeger |location=New York |isbn=978-0-275-93179-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/southafricaswara00will }}</ref>
* Is less effective than other methods (e.g. the [[Earned Income Tax Credit]]) at reducing poverty, and is more damaging to businesses than those other methods.<ref name="economist2006">{{Cite news|title=A blunt instrument|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/united-states/2006/10/26/a-blunt-instrument|access-date=14 February 2023|issn=0013-0613}}</ref>
* Discourages further education among the poor by enticing people to enter the job market.<ref name="economist2006"/>
* Discriminates against, through pricing out, less qualified workers (including newcomers to the labor market, e.g. young workers) by keeping them from accumulating work experience and qualifications, hence potentially graduating to higher wages later.<ref name='WSJ100309'/>
* Slows growth in the creation of low-skilled jobs<ref name="MeerWest">{{cite journal |first1=Jonathan |last1=Meer |first2=Jeremy |last2=West |year=2016 |title=Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment Dynamics |journal=[[Journal of Human Resources]] |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=500–522 |doi=10.3368/jhr.51.2.0414-6298R1 |citeseerx=10.1.1.705.3838 |s2cid=219236990 }}</ref>
* Results in jobs moving to other areas or countries which allow lower-cost labor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://smallbusiness.chron.com/pros-amp-cons-outsourcing-manufacturing-jobs-40320.html|title=Pros & Cons of Outsourcing Manufacturing Jobs|website=smallbusiness.chron.com|access-date=24 April 2019}}</ref>
* Results in higher long-term unemployment.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/s12122-999-1007-9| title = Do minimum wage hikes reduce employment? State-level evidence from the low-wage retail sector| journal = Journal of Labor Research| volume = 20| issue = 3| page = 393| year = 1999| last1 = Partridge | first1 = M. D. | last2 = Partridge | first2 = J. S. | s2cid = 154560481}}</ref>
* Results in higher prices for consumers, where products and services are produced by minimum-wage workers<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44995|title=The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income|date=18 February 2014|access-date=26 July 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725153738/http://cbo.gov/publication/44995|archive-date=25 July 2014}}</ref> (though non-labor costs represent a greater proportion of costs to consumers in industries like fast food and discount retail)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/02/21/3317901/walmart-minimum-wage-prices/|title=A $10.10 Minimum Wage Would Make A DVD At Walmart Cost One Cent More|first=Bryce|last=Covert|website=[[ThinkProgress]]|date=21 February 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729075549/http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/02/21/3317901/walmart-minimum-wage-prices/|archive-date=29 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/06/08/what-will-a-higher-minimum-wage-cost-you-at-mcdona.aspx|title=What Will a Minimum Wage Increase Cost You at McDonald's?|website=The Motley Fool|first=Travis|last=Hoium|date=19 October 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723072611/http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/06/08/what-will-a-higher-minimum-wage-cost-you-at-mcdona.aspx|archive-date=23 July 2014}}</ref>

A widely circulated argument that the minimum wage was ineffective at reducing poverty was provided by [[George Stigler]] in 1949:
* Employment may fall more than in proportion to the wage increase, thereby reducing overall earnings;
* As uncovered sectors of the economy absorb workers released from the covered sectors, the decrease in wages in the uncovered sectors may exceed the increase in wages in the covered ones;
* The impact of the minimum wage on family income distribution may be negative unless the fewer but better jobs are allocated to members of needy families rather than to, for example, teenagers from families not in poverty;
* Forbidding employers to pay less than a legal minimum is equivalent to forbidding workers to sell their labor for less than the minimum wage. The legal restriction that employers cannot pay less than a legislated wage is equivalent to the legal restriction that workers cannot work at all in the protected sector unless they can find employers willing to hire them at that wage.<ref name="Palgrave1987" /> That may be seen as a legal violation of [[Right to work|human right to work]] in its most basic interpretation as "''a right to engage in productive employment, and not to be prevented from doing so''".
In 2006, the [[International Labour Organization]] (ILO) argued that the minimum wage could not be directly linked to unemployment in countries that have suffered job losses.<ref name="ILO 2006" /> In April 2010, the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) released a report arguing that countries could alleviate teen unemployment by "lowering the cost of employing low-skilled youth" through a sub-minimum training wage.<ref>Scarpetta, Stephano, Anne Sonnet and Thomas Manfredi,''Rising Youth Unemployment During The Crisis: How To Prevent Negative Long-Term Consequences on a Generation?'', 14 April 2010 [http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2010doc.nsf/LinkTo/NT000028DE/$FILE/JT03281808.PDF (read-only PDF)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105115117/http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2010doc.nsf/LinkTo/NT000028DE/$FILE/JT03281808.PDF |date=5 November 2010 }}</ref> A study of U.S. states showed that businesses' annual and average payrolls grow faster and employment grew at a faster rate in states with a minimum wage.<ref>Fiscal Policy Institute, "States with Minimum Wages Above the Federal Level have had Faster Small Business and Retail Job Growth," 30 March 2006.</ref> The study showed a correlation, but did not claim to prove causation.

Although strongly opposed by both the business community and the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] when introduced in the UK in 1999, the Conservatives reversed their opposition in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politics.co.uk/issue-briefs/economy/employment/national-minimum-wage/national-minimum-wage-$366581.htm |title=National Minimum Wage |publisher=politics.co.uk |access-date=29 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201162434/http://www.politics.co.uk/issue-briefs/economy/employment/national-minimum-wage/national-minimum-wage-%24366581.htm |archive-date=1 December 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Accounts differ as to the effects of the minimum wage. The Centre for Economic Performance found no discernible impact on employment levels from the wage increases,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Metcalf, David|url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/cepdps/dp0781.html|title=Why Has the British National Minimum Wage Had Little or No Impact on Employment? |journal=Centre for Economic Performance |publisher=London School of Economics |date=April 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921184859/https://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/cepdps/dp0781.html|archive-date=21 September 2015 |via=Ideas}}</ref> while the [[Low Pay Commission]] found that employers had reduced their rate of hiring and employee hours employed, and found ways to cause current workers to be more productive (especially service companies).<ref name="LPC 2005">Low Pay Commission (2005). [http://www.lowpay.gov.uk/lowpay/report/pdf/DTi-Min_Wage.pdf ''National Minimum Wage – Low Pay Commission Report 2005''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116084704/http://www.lowpay.gov.uk/lowpay/report/pdf/DTi-Min_Wage.pdf |date=16 January 2013 }}</ref> The [[Institute for the Study of Labor]] found prices in minimum wage sectors{{Efn|notably take-away foods, canteen meals, hotel services and domestic services}} rose faster than other sectors, especially in the four years after its introduction.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|author=Wadsworth, Jonathan|url=ftp://repec.iza.org/RePEc/Discussionpaper/dp4433.pdf|title=Did the National Minimum Wage Affect UK Prices|date=September 2009|access-date=8 June 2010|archive-date=25 May 2017|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170525162857/ftp://repec.iza.org/RePEc/Discussionpaper/dp4433.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Neither trade unions nor employer organizations contest the minimum wage, although the latter had especially done so heavily until 1999.

In 2014, supporters of minimum wage cited a study that found that job creation within the United States is faster in states that raised their minimum wages.<ref name="cepr.net"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/19/332879409/states-that-raised-minimum-wage-see-faster-job-growth-report-says|title=States That Raised Minimum Wage See Faster Job Growth, Report Says|newspaper=NPR|date=19 July 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025021348/http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/19/332879409/states-that-raised-minimum-wage-see-faster-job-growth-report-says|archive-date=25 October 2014|last1=Neuman|first1=Scott}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/07/19/us-states-with-higher-minimum-wages-gain-more-jobs/12879113/ | work=USA Today | first=Christopher S. | last=Rugaber | title=States with higher minimum wage gain more jobs | date=19 July 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711172711/https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/07/19/us-states-with-higher-minimum-wages-gain-more-jobs/12879113/ | archive-date=11 July 2017 }}</ref> In 2014, supporters of minimum wage cited news organizations who reported the state with the highest minimum-wage garnered more job creation than the rest of the United States.<ref name="cepr.net"/><ref name="Bloomberg2">{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-05/washington-shows-highest-minimum-wage-state-beats-u-s-with-jobs.html | work=Bloomberg | first=Victoria | last=Stilwell | title=Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation | date=8 March 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110111227/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-05/washington-shows-highest-minimum-wage-state-beats-u-s-with-jobs.html | archive-date=10 January 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/14/smallbusiness/minimum-wage-washington-jobs/ | work=CNN | first=Katie | last=Lobosco | title=Washington state defies minimum wage logic | date=14 May 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025013846/http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/14/smallbusiness/minimum-wage-washington-jobs/ | archive-date=25 October 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/minimum-wage-washington-after-16-years-state-highest-minimum-wage-maintains-lower-unemployment|title=Did Washington State's Minimum Wage Bet Pay Off?|website=[[International Business Times]]|date=5 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120115641/http://www.ibtimes.com/minimum-wage-washington-after-16-years-state-highest-minimum-wage-maintains-lower-unemployment|archive-date=20 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harold-meyerson-a-higher-minimum-wage-may-actually-boost-job-creation/2014/05/21/463bd80e-e112-11e3-9743-bb9b59cde7b9_story.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | first=Harold | last=Meyerson | title=Harold Meyerson: A higher minimum wage may actually boost job creation | date=21 May 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170718224448/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harold-meyerson-a-higher-minimum-wage-may-actually-boost-job-creation/2014/05/21/463bd80e-e112-11e3-9743-bb9b59cde7b9_story.html | archive-date=18 July 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/03/3456393/minimum-wage-state-increase-employment/|title=States That Raised Their Minimum Wages Are Experiencing Faster Job Growth|first=Bryce|last=Covert|website=[[ThinkProgress]]|date=3 July 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025022719/http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/03/3456393/minimum-wage-state-increase-employment/|archive-date=25 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/pages/qanda|title=Minimum Wage Question and Answer|first=Mike|last=Nellis|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025024423/http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/pages/qanda|archive-date=25 October 2014}}</ref>

In 2014, in Seattle, Washington, liberal and progressive business owners who had supported the city's new $15 minimum wage said they might hold off on expanding their businesses and thus creating new jobs, due to the uncertain timescale of the wage increase implementation.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wang|first=Deborah|date=24 October 2018|title=Minimum Wage Limbo Keeps Small Business Owners Up At Night|url=https://kuow.org/stories/minimum-wage-limbo-keeps-small-business-owners-night/|access-date=14 February 2023|website=kuow.org|language=en}}</ref> However, subsequently at least two of the business owners quoted did expand.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.seattlemag.com/article/cupcake-royale-owner-and-pastry-chef-launch-3-new-ventures |title=Seattle Magazine, March 23, 2015 |access-date=1 February 2016 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225021153/https://www.seattlemag.com/article/cupcake-royale-owner-and-pastry-chef-launch-3-new-ventures |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>
[http://komonews.com/archive/15-minimum-wage-a-surprising-success-for-seattle-restaurant-11-21-2015 $15 minimum wage a surprising success for Seattle restaurant] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160726215335/http://komonews.com/archive/15-minimum-wage-a-surprising-success-for-seattle-restaurant-11-21-2015 |date=26 July 2016 }}, KOMO News, 31 July 2015</ref>

With regard to the economic effects of introducing minimum wage legislation in Germany in January 2015, recent developments have shown that the feared increase in unemployment has not materialized, however, in some economic sectors and regions of the country, it came to a decline in job opportunities particularly for temporary and part-time workers, and some low-wage jobs have disappeared entirely.<ref>C. Eisenring (Dec 2015). [http://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/wirtschaftspolitik/gefaehrliche-mindestlohn-euphorie-1.18669322?extcid=Newsletter_29122015_Top-News_am_Morgen Gefährliche Mindestlohn-Euphorie] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101063214/http://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/wirtschaftspolitik/gefaehrliche-mindestlohn-euphorie-1.18669322?extcid=Newsletter_29122015_Top-News_am_Morgen |date=1 January 2016 }} (in German). ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung''. Retrieved 30 December 2015.</ref> Because of this overall positive development, the [[Deutsche Bundesbank]] revised its opinion, and ascertained that "the impact of the introduction of the minimum wage on the total volume of work appears to be very limited in the present business cycle".<ref>{{cite web|first=R. |last=Janssen |date=September 2015 |url=http://www.socialeurope.eu/2015/09/the-german-minimum-wage-is-not-a-job-killer/ |title=The German Minimum Wage Is Not A Job Killer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109094251/http://www.socialeurope.eu/2015/09/the-german-minimum-wage-is-not-a-job-killer/ |archive-date=9 November 2015  |website=Social Europe |access-date=30 December 2015}}</ref>

A 2019 study published in the ''[[American Journal of Preventive Medicine]]'' showed that in the United States, those states that have implemented a higher minimum wage saw a decline in the growth of [[Suicide in the United States|suicide]] rates. The researchers say that for every one dollar increase, the annual suicide growth rate fell by 1.9%. The study covers all 50 states for the years 2006 to 2016.<ref>{{cite news |last= Rapaport|first=Lisa|date=19 April 2019 |title=Higher state minimum wage tied to lower suicide rates|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-suicide-wages/higher-state-minimum-wage-tied-to-lower-suicide-rates-idUSKCN1RV17R|work=[[Reuters]] |access-date=27 April 2019}}</ref>

According to a 2020 US study, the cost of 10% minimum wage increases for grocery store workers was fully passed through to consumers as 0.4% higher grocery prices.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Renkin|first1=Tobias|last2=Montialoux|first2=Claire|last3=Siegenthaler|first3=Michael|date=30 October 2020|title=The Pass-Through of Minimum Wages into US Retail Prices: Evidence from Supermarket Scanner Data|url=https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00981|journal=The Review of Economics and Statistics|volume=104 |issue=5 |pages=890–908|doi=10.1162/rest_a_00981|hdl=20.500.11850/448658|s2cid=202621766|issn=0034-6535|hdl-access=free|quote=This paper estimates the pass-through of minimum wage increases into the prices of US grocery and drug stores. We use high-frequency scanner data and leverage a large number of state-level increases in minimum wages between 2001 and 2012. We find that a 10% minimum wage hike translates into a 0.36% increase in the prices of grocery products. This magnitude is consistent with a full pass-through of cost increases into consumer prices. We show that price adjustments occur mostly in the three months following the passage of minimum wage legislation rather than after implementation, suggesting that pricing of groceries is forward-looking.}}</ref> Similarly, a 2021 study that covered 10,000 [[McDonald's]] restaurants in the US found that between 2016 and 2020, the cost of 10% minimum wage increases for McDonald's workers were passed through to customers as 1.4% increases in the price of a Big Mac.<ref name=Princeton >{{cite web | url=https://dataspace.princeton.edu/bitstream/88435/dsp01sb397c318/4/646.pdf | title=Wages, Minimum Wages, and Price Pass-Through: The Case of McDonald's Restaurants | last1=Ashenfelter | first1=Orley | last2=Jurajda | first2=Štěpán | date=1 January 2021 | access-date=3 February 2021 | quote=We use highly consistent national-coverage price and wage data to provide evidence on wage increases, labor-saving technology introduction, and price pass-through by a large low-wage employer facing minimum wage hikes. Based on 2016–2020 hourly wage rates of McDonald's Basic Crew and prices of the Big Mac sandwich collected simultaneously from almost all US McDonald's restaurants, we find that in about 25% of instances of minimum wage increases, restaurants display a tendency to keep constant their wage 'premium' above the increasing minimum wage. Higher minimum wages are not associated with faster adoption of touch-screen ordering, and there is near-full price pass-through of minimum wages, with little heterogeneity related to how binding minimum wage increases are for restaurants. Minimum wage hikes lead to increases in real wages (expressed in Big Macs an hour of Basic Crew work can buy) that are one fifth lower than the corresponding increases in nominal wages. | archive-date=28 February 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228050555/https://dataspace.princeton.edu/bitstream/88435/dsp01sb397c318/4/646.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=MW_1 >{{ cite news | url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-minimum-wage-increases-did-to-mcdonalds-restaurants-and-their-employees-11611862080 | title=What minimum-wage increases did to McDonald's restaurants — and their employees | last=Buchwald | first=Elisabeth | newspaper=[[MarketWatch]] | date=30 January 2021 | quote=They found that the higher cost of labor that results from increasing minimum wages gets passed on to consumers in the form of more expensive Big Macs. More specifically, they estimated that a 10% minimum-wage increase leads to a 1.4% increase in the price of a Big Mac.}}</ref> This results in minimum wage workers getting a lesser increase in their "real wage" than in their nominal wage, because any goods and services they purchase made with minimum-wage labor have now increased in cost, analogous to an increase in the sales tax.<ref name=NPR_2021-02-16 >{{ cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/02/16/967333964/what-mcdonalds-shows-about-the-minimum-wage | title=What McDonald's Shows About The Minimum Wage | last=Rosalsky | first=Greg | newspaper=[[NPR]] | date=16 February 2021 | quote=Ashenfelter says the evidence from increased food prices suggests that basically all of the "increase of labor costs gets passed right on to the customers." But because low-wage workers are also usually customers at low-wage establishments, this suggests that any pay raise resulting from a minimum wage increase might not be as great in reality as it looks on paper. In econospeak, the increase in their "real wage" — that is, their wage after accounting for the price of the stuff they buy — is not as high, because the cost of some of the stuff they buy, such as fast food, goes up too. ... "They still get a raise. They just don't get as big a raise as it may seem," he says. In effect, a minimum wage increase appears to be a redistribution of wealth from customers to low-wage workers. Ashenfelter says he thinks of it like a kind of sales tax. }}</ref>

According to a 2019 review of the academic literature by [[Arindrajit Dube]], "overall, the most up to date body of research from US, UK and other developed countries points to a very muted effect of minimum wages on employment, while significantly increasing the earnings of low paid workers."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Arindrajit |first=Dube |date=5 November 2019 |title=Impacts of minimum wages: review of the international evidence |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/impacts-of-minimum-wages-review-of-the-international-evidence |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117134420/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5dc0312940f0b637a03ffa96/impacts_of_minimum_wages_review_of_the_international_evidence_Arindrajit_Dube_web.pdf |archive-date=17 January 2024 |access-date=12 February 2021 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref>

According to a 2021 study "''The Minimum Wage, EITC, and Criminal Recidivism''" a minimum wage increase of $0.50 reduces the probability an ex-incarcerated individual returns to prison within 3 years by 2.15%; these reductions come mainly from recidivism of property and drug crimes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Agan|first1=Amanda Y.|last2=Makowsky|first2=Michael D.|date=12 July 2021|title=The Minimum Wage, EITC, and Criminal Recidivism*|url=http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/07/03/jhr.58.5.1220-11398R1|journal=Journal of Human Resources|volume=58 |issue=5 |language=en|pages=1712–1751|doi=10.3368/jhr.58.5.1220-11398R1|s2cid=239719925|issn=0022-166X}}</ref>