Abstract
There is considerable debate on the level and effects of minimum wages for many decades. However, most of the studies are conducted in developed countries. This chapter first reviews the theoretical frameworks of anticipated effects of a minimum wage increase on wages and employment in develo** countries. The empirical challenges are then discussed, including potential heterogeneity, simultaneity (or endogeneity) between employment and minimum wages, and possible omitted variable bias, taking into consideration of the different labor market structures and labor market institutions in develo** countries, particularly the level of informal sector, extent of binding minimum wages, level of enforcement, and vulnerability of the workers impacted. Evidence from BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) members are reviewed and discussed. Surprisingly, there is substantial evidence of positive wage effects in both formal and informal sectors, although the adverse effects on employment are generally modest in the formal sector and almost non-existent in the informal sector. However, when minimum wages are binding and enforced, studies focusing on vulnerable workers do find significant and positive wage effects and strong disemployment effects, implying that classic trade-off of minimum wages between higher wages and lower employment does occur in develo** countries.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adam C, Buffie E (2020) The minimum wage puzzle in less developed countries: reconciling theory and evidence. International Monetary Fund. https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513527888.001
Alamgir F, Banerjee SB (2019) Contested compliance regimes in global production networks: insights from the Bangladesh garment industry. Hum Relat 72(2):272–297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726718760150
Allegretto SA, Dube A, Reich M (2011) Do minimum wages really reduce teen employment? Accounting for heterogeneity and selectivity in state panel data. Ind Relat 50(2):205–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-232X.2011.00634.x
Amadeo EJ, Camargo JM (1997) Brazil: regulation and flexibility in the labor market. In: Edwards S, Lustig NC (eds) Labor Markets in Latin America: combining social protection with market flexibility. Brookings Institution Press, Washington D.C., pp 201–234
Andalon M, Pages C (2009) Minimum wages in Kenya. In: Kanbur R, Svegnar J (eds) Labour markets and economic development. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 236–268
Anker R, Anker M (2017) Living wages around the world: manual for measurement. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham
Baskaya YS, Rubinstein Y (2012) Using federal minimum wages to identify the impact of minimum wages on employment and earnings across U.S. States. https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/brmw_yrubinstein.pdf. Accessed 24 May 2022
Belman D, Wolfson P (2015) What does the minimum wage do in develo** countries? A review of studies and methodologies. International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/2015/489328.pdf. Accessed 24 May 2022
Belser P, Rani U (2015) Minimum wages and inequality. In: Berg J (ed) Labour markets, institutions and inequality. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, pp 123–146. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784712105
Benassi C (2011) The implementation of minimum wage: Challenges and creative solutions, Global Labour University Working Paper, No. 12, ISBN 9789221247920, International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva
Bhorat H, Kanbur R, Mayet N (2012) Minimum wage violation in South Africa. Int Labour Rev 151(3):277–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2012.00149.x
Bhorat H, Kanbur R, Stanwix B (2014) Estimating the impact of minimum wages on employment, wages, and non-wage benefits: the case of agriculture in South Africa. Am J Agric Econ 96(5):1402–1419. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aau049
Bhorat H, Cassim A, Kanbur R, Stanwix B, Yu D (2016) Minimum wages and youth: the case of South Africa. J Afr Econ 25(1):61–l02. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejv029
Boeri T, Garibaldi P, Ribeiro M (2011) The lighthouse effect and beyond. Rev Income Wealth 57(1):54–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.2011.00455.x
Broecke S, Forti A, Vandeweyer M (2017) The effect of minimum wages on employment in emerging economies: a survey and meta-analysis. Oxf Dev Stud 45(3):366–391. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2017.1279134
Brown C (1999) Minimum wages, employment, and the distribution of income. In: Card D, Ashenfelter O (eds) Handbook of labor economics. Elsevier, North Holland, pp 2101–2163. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1573-4463(99)30018-3
Clemens J, Wither M (2019) The minimum wage and the great recession: evidence of effects on the employment and income trajectories of low-skilled workers. J Public Econ 170:53–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.01.004
Cooke FL (2004) HRM, work and employment in China. Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203390702
Dinkelman T, Ranchhod V (2012) Evidence on the impact of minimum wage laws in an informal sector: domestic workers in South Africa. J Dev Econ 99(1):27–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.12.006
Dube A, Lester TW, Reich M (2010) Minimum wage effects across state borders: estimates using contiguous counties. Rev Econ Stat 92(4):945–964. https://doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00039
Duval R, Loungani P (2019) Designing labor market institutions in emerging and develo** economies: evidence and policy options. International Monetary Fund. https://www.imf.org/-/media/Files/Publications/SDN/2019/SDNEA2019004.ashx. Accessed 24 May 2022
Eyraud F, Saget C (2005) “The fundamentls of minimum wage fixing.” Mimeo, Internation Labour Office (Geneva, Switzerland)
Fajnzylber P (2001) Minimum wage effects throughout the wage distribution: evidence from Brazil’s formal and informal sectors. CEDEPLAR. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.269622
Fang T, Lin C (2015) Minimum wages and employment in China. IZA Journal of Labor Policy 4(1):1–30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40173-015-0050-9
Fang T, Gunderson M, Lin C (2021) The impact of minimum wages on wages, wage spillovers, and employment in China: evidence from longitudinal individual-level data. Rev Dev Econ 25(2):854–877. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12741
Fields G (2011) Labor market analysis for develo** countries. Labour Econ 18:S16–S22
Freeman R (2010) Labor regulations, unions, and social protection in develo** countries: market distortions or efficient institutions? In: Rodrik D, Rosenzweig M (eds) Handbook of development economics, vol 5. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 4657–4702. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-52944-2.00008-2
Ghosheh N (2013) Wage protection legislation in Africa, conditions of work and employment series no. 38. Geneva, ILO
Gindling TH (2018) Does increasing the minimum wage reduce poverty in develo** countries? IZA World of Labor. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.30.v2
Gindling TH, Terrell K (2005) The effect of minimum wages on actual wages in formal and informal sectors in Costa Rica. World Dev 33(11):1905–1921. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2005.04.017
Gindling TH, Terrell K (2009) Minimum wages, wages and employment in various sectors in Honduras. Labour Econ 16(3):291–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2008.10.001
Gudibande RR, Jacob A (2020) Minimum wages for domestic workers: impact evaluation of the Indian experience. World Dev 130:104943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104943
ILO (2002) Resolution concerning decent work and the informal economy. International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/asia/info/WCMS_098314/lang%2D%2Den/index.htm. Accessed 24 May 2022
ILO (2016). Minimum wage policy guide. International Labour Organization. https://labordoc.ilo.org/discovery/delivery/41ILO_INST:41ILO_V1/1254239840002676. Accessed 24 May 2022
ILO (2018) Women and men in the informal economy: a statistical brief. International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-dgreports/%2D%2D-dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_626831.pdf. Accessed 24 May 2022
ILO (2020) Global wage report 2020–21: wages and minimum wages in the time of COVID-19. International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_762534/lang%2D%2Den/index.htm. Accessed 24 May 2022
Jia P, Zhang S (2013) Spillover effects of minimum wages increase. Stat Res 30:37–41. (in Chinese)
Jones P (1997) The impact of minimum wage legislation in develo** countries where coverage is incomplete. University of Oxford. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2399119f-dcfe-4155-85b4-2fe81692ca27. Accessed 24 May 2022
Kapelyuk S (2015) The effect of minimum wage on poverty: evidence from RLMS-HSE data. Econ Transit 23(2):389–423. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecot.12066
Khamis M (2011) Does the minimum wage have a higher impact on the informal than on the formal labour market? Evidence from quasi-experiments. Appl Econ 45(4):477–495. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2011.605763
Lemos S (2009) Minimum wage effects in a develo** country. Labour Econ 16(2):224–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2008.07.003
Lemos S, Rigobon R, Lang K (2004) Minimum wage policy and employment effects: evidence from Brazil. Economía 5(1):219–266. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20065471
Levine D (1992) Can wage increases pay for themselves? Tests with a productive function. Econ J 102(414):1102–1115. https://doi.org/10.2307/2234379
Li Z, Liu F, Mi S (2022) Can an increase in the minimum wage standard force enterprises to innovate? Evidence from China. Manag Decis Econ. https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.3630
Lukiyanova A (2011) Effects of minimum wages on the Russian wage distribution. Higher School of Economics Research Paper No. WP BRP 09/EC/2011. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2002938
Maloney W (1999) Does informality imply segmentation in urban labor markets? Evidence from sectoral transitions in Mexico. World Bank Econ Rev 13(2):275–302. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/13.2.275
Maloney W (2004) Informality revisited. World Dev 32(7):1159–1178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.01.008
Maloney W, Mendez J (2004) Measuring the impact of minimum wages. Evidence from Latin America. In: Heckman JJ, Pages C (eds) Law and employment: lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 109–130
Mansoor K, O’Neill D (2021) Minimum wage compliance and household welfare: an analysis of over 1500 minimum wages in India. World Dev 147:105653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105653
Medina L, Schneider F (2019) Shedding light on the shadow economy: A global database and the interaction with the official one. CESifo working paper no. 7981. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3502028
Menon N, Rodgers Y (2017) The impact of the minimum wage on male and female employment and earnings in India. Asian Dev Rev 34(1):28–64. https://doi.org/10.1162/ADEV_a_00080
Munguia LF (2019) Minimum wages and enforcement effects on employment in develo** countries. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3442352
Muravyev A, Oshchepkov A (2016) The effect of doubling the minimum wage on employment: evidence from Russia. IZA J Labor Dev 5(1):1–20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40175-016-0051-0
Nataraj S, Perez-Arce F, Kumar KB, Srinivasan SV (2014) The impact of labor market regulation on employment in low-income countries: a meta-analysis. J Econ Surv 28(3):551–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12040
Neumark D (2019) The econometrics and economics of the employment effects of minimum wages: getting from known unknowns to known knowns. Ger Econ Rev 20(3):293–329. https://doi.org/10.1111/geer.12184
Neumark D, Corella M (2021) Do minimum wages reduce employment in develo** countries? A survey and exploration of conflicting evidence. World Dev 137:105165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105165
Neumark D, Wascher W (1994) Employment effects of minimum and subminimum wages: reply to Card, Katz, and Krueger. Ind Labor Relat Rev 47(3):497–512
Neumark D, Wascher W (2008) Minimum wages. MIT Press, Massachusetts
Neumark D, Wascher W (2017) Reply to “Credible research designs for minimum wage studies”. Ind Labor Relat Rev 70(3):593–609. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793917698429
Neumark D, Schweitzer M, Wascher W (2004) Minimum wage effects throughout the wage distribution. J Hum Resour 39(2):425–450. https://doi.org/10.2307/3559021
Neumark D, Cunningham W, Siga L (2006) The effects of the minimum wage in Brazil on the distribution of family incomes: 1996–2001. J Dev Econ 80(1):136–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2005.02.001
Neumark D, Salas JM, Wascher W (2014) Revisiting the minimum wage – employment debate: throwing out the baby with the bathwater? Ind Labor Relat Rev 67(3):608–648. https://doi.org/10.1177/00197939140670S307
Ni J, Wang G, Yao X (2011) Impact of minimum wages on employment: evidence from China. Chinese Econ 44(1):18–38. https://doi.org/10.2753/CES1097-1475440102
Powell D (2017) Synthetic control estimation beyond case studies: Does the minimum wage reduce employment? RAND working paper series WR-1142. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2791789
Rani U, Belser P, Oelz M, Ranjbar S (2013) Minimum wage coverage and compliance in develo** countries. Int Labour Rev 152(3–4):381–410. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2013.00197.x
Smith C (2011) Polarization, immigration, education: What’s behind the dramatic decline in youth employment? Finance and economics discussion series working paper no. 2011-41. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1956751
Soundararajan V (2019) Heterogeneous effects of imperfectly enforced minimum wages in low-wage labor markets. J Dev Econ 140:355–374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.06.010
Sun S (2006) The economic analysis for the Chinese employment influence to the adjusting the lowest wage policy. J Hubei College Financ Econ 18:13–15. (in Chinese)
Terrell K, Almeida RK (2008) Minimum wages in develo** countries: hel** or hurting workers? World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11742. Accessed 24 May 2022
Thompson JP (2009) Using local labor market data to re-examine the employment effects of the minimum wage. Ind Labor Relat Rev 62(3):343–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979390906200305
Wang J, Gunderson M (2011) Minimum wage impacts in China: estimates from a prespecified research design, 2000–2007. Contemp Econ Policy 29(3):392–406. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2010.00239.x
Zhang J, Deng J (2005) On minimum wage system of peasant laborers. J Bei**g Agric Vocation College 19:46–49. (in Chinese)
Acknowledgments
Responsible Section Editor: Professor Dr. Klaus F. Zimmermann
The chapter has benefitted from valuable comments of the editors and anonymous referees. Financial support by the Stephen Jarislowsky Foundation and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged. There is no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fang, T., Ha, V.H. (2023). Minimum Wages in Develo** Countries. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_375-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_375-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57365-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57365-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences