On the empirics of minimum wages and employment: evidence for the Austrian industry

Abstract

We investigate the empirical evidence of the ‘textbook theory’ of minimum wages for Austrian industry. In Austria, minimum wages are the result of wage bargaining which may be best described using a ‘right to manage’ model. In contrast to the predictions of the ‘textbook analysis’, no significant negative effects of minimum wages on employment have been found. This could be the result of the nature of the typical Austrian wage-bargaining situation.

Notes

¹The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the OeNB or the Eurosystem.

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Notes on contributors

Christian Ragacs1

1The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the OeNB or the Eurosystem.