The Economic Impact of a High National Minimum Wage: Evidence from the 1966 Fair Labor Standards Act

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bailey, Martha J.; DiNardo, John; Stuart, Bryan A.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; George Washington University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/712554
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: S329-S367
• 关键词: employment; flsa; WAR

摘要

This paper examines the short- and longer-term economic effects of the 1966 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which increased the national minimum wage to its highest level of the twentieth century and extended coverage to an additional 9.1 million workers. Exploiting differences in the bite of the minimum wage owing to regional variation in the standard of living and industry composition, this paper finds that the 1966 FLSA increased wages dramatically but reduced aggregate employment only modestly. However, some evidence shows that disemployment effects were significantly larger among African American men, 40% of whom earned below the new minimum wage.