Mindestlohn
Seit Inkrafttreten des Mindestlohngesetzes am 1. Januar 2015 gilt ein allgemeingültiger flächendeckender Mindestlohn in Deutschland. Lohnuntergrenzen gibt es in beinahe allen europäischen Staaten und den USA. Die Mindestlohn-Gesetze haben das Ziel, Lohn-Dumping, also die nicht verhältnismäßige Bezahlung von Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmern, zu verhindern.
Dieses Themendossier dokumentiert die Diskussion rund um die Einführung des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns in Deutschland und die Ergebnisse empirischer Forschung der zu flächendeckenden und branchenspezifischen Mindestlöhnen. Mit dem Filter „Autorenschaft“ können Sie auf IAB-(Mit-)Autorenschaft eingrenzen.
- Grundsätzliches zum flächendeckenden Mindestlohn
- Auswirkungen des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns auf
- Auswirkungen des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns auf Personengruppen
- Ausnahmen vom flächendeckenden Mindestlohn u.a. für
- Ausweichreaktionen auf Mindestlöhne in Deutschland
- Bundesländer
- Branchenspezifische Mindestlöhne und deren Auswirkungen auf
- Mindestlohn in anderen Ländern
-
Literaturhinweis
Minimum Wages, Efficiency, and Welfare (2025)
Zitatform
Berger, David, Kyle Herkenhoff & Simon Mongey (2025): Minimum Wages, Efficiency, and Welfare. In: Econometrica, Jg. 93, H. 1, S. 265-301. DOI:10.3982/ecta21466
Abstract
"Many argue that minimum wages can prevent efficiency losses from monopsony power. We assess this argument in a general equilibrium model of oligopsonistic labor markets with heterogeneous workers and firms. We decompose welfare gains into an efficiency component that captures reductions in monopsony power and a redistributive component that captures the way minimum wages shift resources across people. The minimum wage that maximizes the efficiency component of welfare lies below $8.00 and yields gains worth less than 0.2% of lifetime consumption. When we add back in Utilitarian redistributive motives, the optimal minimum wage is $11 and redistribution accounts for 102.5% of the resulting welfare gains, implying offsetting efficiency losses of −2.5%. The reason a minimum wage struggles to deliver efficiency gains is that with realistic firm productivity dispersion, a minimum wage that eliminates monopsony power at one firm causes severe rationing at another. These results hold under an EITC and progressive labor income taxes calibrated to the U.S. economy." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Minimum Wages and Poverty: New Evidence from Dynamic Difference-in-Differences Estimates (2025)
Zitatform
Burkhauser, Richard V., Drew McNichols & Joseph J. Sabia (2025): Minimum Wages and Poverty: New Evidence from Dynamic Difference-in-Differences Estimates. In: The Review of Economics and Statistics, S. 1-53. DOI:10.1162/rest_a_01590
Abstract
"This study re-examines Dube (2019), which finds large and statistically significant poverty-reducing effects of the minimum wage. We show that his estimated elasticities are fragile and sensitive to (1) time period under study, (2) choice of macroeconomic controls, (3) limiting counterfactuals to geographically proximate states (“close controls”), which poorly match treatment states' pre-treatment poverty trends, and (4) accounting for potential bias caused by heterogeneous and dynamic treatment effects. Using data spanning nearly four decades from the March Current Population Survey and a dynamic difference-in-differences (DiD) approach, we find that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a (statistically insignificant) 0.17 percent increase in the probability of longer-run poverty among all persons. With 95% confidence, we can rule out long-run poverty elasticities with respect to the minimum wage of less than -0.129. Our null results persist across a variety of DiD estimation strategies, including two-way fixed effects, stacked DiD, Callaway and Sant'Anna, and synthetic DiD. We conclude that, to date, the preponderance of evidence suggests that minimum wage increases are an ineffective policy strategy for alleviating poverty." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © MIT Press Journals) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Minimum wage and employment in the U.S.: an application of Bayesian quantile kink regression (2025)
Zitatform
Chan, Marc K. & Akbar Zamanzadeh (2025): Minimum wage and employment in the U.S.: an application of Bayesian quantile kink regression. In: Econometric Reviews, Jg. 44, H. 6, S. 673-695. DOI:10.1080/07474938.2025.2451339
Abstract
"We examine whether the employment effects of minimum wage depend on unknown tipping points in the labor market. We apply a continuous threshold regression model—regression kink with unknown thresholds—to U.S. state-level panel data in 1993–2016 to estimate the tipping point and quantile employment effects. Overall, we find that the marginal effect is near-zero or mildly negative below the tipping point, and it is considerably more negative above it. The tipping occurs at 50–55% of the state’s median wage among women and 40–45% among men. Simulations of minimum wage reforms reveal nonlinear and asymmetric employment effects." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
The eterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan (2025)
Zitatform
Clemens, Jeffrey & Michael Strain (2025): The eterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan. In: Journal of labor economics. DOI:10.1086/736552
Abstract
"This paper advances the use of partially pre-committed analysis plans in non-experimental research settings. In a study of recent minimum wage changes, we demonstrate how analyses of longer-run impacts of policy interventions can be pre-specified as extensions to very short-run analyses. Further, our pre-analysis plan includes comparisons of the effects of large vs.small minimum wage increases, which is a theoretically motivated dimension ofheterogeneity. We discuss how these use cases harness the strengths of pre-analysis planswhile mitigating their weaknesses. This project’s initial analyses explored CPS and ACS datafrom 2011 through 2015. Alongside these analyses, we pre-committed to analysesincorporating CPS and ACS data extending through 2019. Averaging across thespecifications in our pre-analysis plan, we estimate that relatively large minimum wage increases reduced employment rates among individuals with low levels of experience andeducation by just over 2 and a half percentage points during the decade prior to the onset ofthe Covid-19 pandemic. Our estimates of the effects of relatively small minimum wage increases vary across data sets and specifications but are, on average, both economically and statistically indistinguishable from zero. We estimate that the elasticity of employment with respect to the minimum wage is substantially more negative for large minimum wage increases than for small increases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Divergent Paths: Differential Impacts of Minimum Wage Increases on Individuals with Disabilities (2025)
Zitatform
Clemens, Jeffrey, Melissa D. Gentry & Jonathan Meer (2025): Divergent Paths: Differential Impacts of Minimum Wage Increases on Individuals with Disabilities. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 33437), Cambridge, Mass, 39 S.
Abstract
"We analyze the differential effects of minimum wage increases on individuals with disabilities using data from the American Community Survey and leveraging state-level minimum wage variation during the 2010s. We find that large minimum wage increases significantly reduce employment and labor force participation for individuals of all working ages with severe disabilities. These declines are accompanied by a downward shift in the wage distribution and an increase in public assistance receipt. By contrast, we find no employment effects for all but young individuals with either non-severe disabilities or no disabilities. Our findings highlight important heterogeneities in minimum wage impacts, raising concerns about labor market policies' unintended consequences for populations on the margins of the labor force." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
The Heterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes on Hours Worked: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan (2025)
Zitatform
Clemens, Jeffrey & Michael R. Strain (2025): The Heterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes on Hours Worked: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 17913), Bonn, 69 S.
Abstract
"In a study of recent minimum wage changes (Clemens and Strain, forthcoming), we demonstrate how analyses of longer-run impacts of policy interventions can be pre-specified as extensions to very short-run analyses. This paper uses this novel methodology to study the effects of minimum wage increases on hours worked. Analyzing CPS and ACS data with the empirical specifications from our partially pre-committed analysis plan, we estimate that relatively large minimum wage increases reduced usual hours worked per week among individuals with low levels of experience and education by just under one hour per week during the decade prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our estimates of the effects of relatively small minimum wage increases vary across data sets and specifications but are, on average, both economically and statistically indistinguishable from zero. We estimate that the elasticity of hours worked with respect to the minimum wage is substantially more negative for large minimum wage increases than for small increases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Basic Income and the Dynamics of Employment and Human Capital in a Non-Urban Disadvantaged Setting (2025)
García, Jorge Luis; Watson, L. Reed; Warren, Patrick L.;Zitatform
García, Jorge Luis, Patrick L. Warren & L. Reed Watson (2025): Basic Income and the Dynamics of Employment and Human Capital in a Non-Urban Disadvantaged Setting. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 33891), Cambridge, Mass, 54 S.
Abstract
"Why and when could basic income inhibit employment? We randomize 200 dollars of basic income per month for two years within a non-urban disadvantaged sample tracked using high-frequency administrative data. The amount provided is 21% of average all-source income. In the short term (0.5 years after baseline), relative to the control group, treatment-group employment decreases by 58%, average all-source income remains constant, and health-investment rates increase. In the longer term (1.25 years after baseline), employment and health-investment rates revert to their control-group counterparts. Treatment participants receive basic income, take time off work, address health needs, and, subsequently, reintegrate into employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
City Size, Monopsony, and the Employment Effects of Minimum Wages (2025)
Zitatform
Jha, Priyaranjan, Jyotsana Kala, David Neumark & Antonio Rodriguez-Lopez (2025): City Size, Monopsony, and the Employment Effects of Minimum Wages. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 33862), Cambridge, Mass, 28 S.
Abstract
"We assess how minimum wage effects on restaurant employment in the U.S. vary with labor market size and monopsony power. Using city-level data, we construct monopsony proxies based on labor flows and concentration. Minimum wages bind less in larger cities, consistent with the urban wage premium, and omitting this relationship overstates how labor market power reduces adverse employment effects of minimum wages. Nonetheless, accounting for city size, lower job market fluidity is linked to weaker negative employment effects, consistent with search models. By contrast, traditional concentration measures do not consistently predict variation in the effects of minimum wages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Do minimum wage increases induce changes in work behavior for people with disabilities? Evidence from the AbilityOne program (2025)
Zitatform
Kim, Jiyoon, Michael Levere & Ellen Magenheim (2025): Do minimum wage increases induce changes in work behavior for people with disabilities? Evidence from the AbilityOne program. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 92. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2024.102663
Abstract
"We provide the first evidence on the effects of minimum wage increases on labor market outcomes for people with disabilities. We use a novel dataset consisting of quarterly data on employment, earnings, and hours for workers at nonprofit firms that participate in the federal AbilityOne program. The nonprofits in this program are offered advantages in government contracting, though must primarily employ workers with disabilities. Using recent local variation in minimum wage changes, we find that increasing the minimum wage does not affect employment outcomes for workers with disabilities in this specific context, with precisely estimated null effects. However, these nonprofits respond along non-employment related margins after relatively large minimum wage increases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Minimum Wage Laws and Job Search (2025)
Zitatform
Melo, Vitor C., Christopher Kaiser, David Neumark, Liya Palagashvili & Michael D. Farren (2025): Minimum Wage Laws and Job Search. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 33433), Cambridge, Mass, 37 S.
Abstract
"A large theoretical literature on job search predicts that a higher minimum wage will increase the number of job seekers for affected jobs, which can lead to more job creation and higher employment. This paper uses novel data on job search in all U.S. states to examine the effect of minimum wage increases on the number of job seekers for low-skilled positions. We find no evidence that higher minimum wages increase job search for low-skilled jobs. Instead, the evidence suggests that higher minimum wages decrease the number of workers seeking employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Employment effects of minimum wage indexing: Establishment evidence from Oregon restaurants (2025)
Zitatform
Miller, Stephen, Gary A. Wagner & Alicia Plemmons (2025): Employment effects of minimum wage indexing: Establishment evidence from Oregon restaurants. In: Economic Inquiry, S. 1-34. DOI:10.1111/ecin.13284
Abstract
"Though 18 states will index their minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index by 2025, few studies have examined indexing's differential employment effects. Leveraging a period of stability in minimum wages (2000–2007) and two distinct national geocoded databases of establishments, we explore how indexing affected employment in Oregon restaurants, one of the earliest indexing states (2003). Nearest-neighbor matching is used as a preprocessing step before regression, pairing individual restaurants in Oregon to restaurants with similar characteristics in states where the minimum wage was unchanged. We find evidence that establishment employment falls 3.6% after indexing, implying an employment elasticity of −0.18." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Minimum Wage Effects and Monopsony Explanations (2025)
Zitatform
Wiltshire, Justin, Carl McPherson, Michael Reich & Denis Sosinskiy (2025): Minimum Wage Effects and Monopsony Explanations. In: Journal of labor economics, S. 1-46. DOI:10.1086/735551
Abstract
"We present the first causal analysis of a seven-year run-up of minimum wages to $15. Using a novel stacked county-level synthetic control estimator and data on fast-food restaurants, we find substantial pay growth and no disemployment. Our results hold among lower-wage counties and counties without local minimum wages. Minimum wage increases reduce Separation rates and raise wages faster than prices at McDonald’s stores; both findings imply a monopsonistic labor market with declining rents. In the tight post-pandemic labor market, when laborsupply becomes more elastic, we find positive employment effects. These become larger and statistically significant after addressing pandemic-response confounds." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Distributional Effects of Local Minimum Wages: A Spatial Job Search Approach (2025)
Zitatform
Zhang, Weilong & Petra E. Todd (2025): Distributional Effects of Local Minimum Wages: A Spatial Job Search Approach. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 43, H. S1, S. S221-S267. DOI:10.1086/734391
Abstract
"This paper develops a spatial general equilibrium job search model to study the effects of local and universal minimum wage policies on employment, wages, job postings, vacancies, migration, and welfare. Workers search for jobs locally and in neighboring areas, deciding whether to migrate or commute after receiving remote offers. The model, estimated using ACS and QWI data, reliably forecasts commuting responses to city minimum wage hikes. Simulations show that low-skill (noncollege) workers benefit from local wage increases up to $12.50. The greatest per capita welfare gain for all workers is achieved by a $15.25 universal minimum wage." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Minimum Wage Employment Effects and Labor Market Concentration (2024)
Zitatform
Azar, José, Emiliano Huet-Vaughn, Ioana Marinescu, Bledi Taska & Till von Wachter (2024): Minimum Wage Employment Effects and Labor Market Concentration. In: The Review of Economic Studies, Jg. 91, H. 4, S. 1843-1883. DOI:10.1093/restud/rdad091
Abstract
"This paper shows that more highly concentrated labor markets experience more positive employment effects of the minimum wage. In the most concentrated labor markets, employment rises following a minimum wage increase. The paper establishes its main findings by studying the effects of local minimum wage increases on a key low-wage retail sector, and using data on labor market concentration that covers the entirety of the U.S. with fine spatial variation at the occupation level. The results carry over to the fast-food sector and the entire low-wage labor market and are robust to using proxies of labour market concentration available for a broader range of industries, such as the number of establishments and population density. A model of oligopsonistic competition can explain these effects: there is more room to increase wages in high-concentration areas where wages tend to be further below marginal productivity. These findings provide evidence supporting monopsonistic wage setting as an explanation for the near-zero minimum wage employment effect documented in prior work." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Federal minimum wage expansion to homecare workers: Employment and income effects (2024)
Dao, Ngoc;Zitatform
Dao, Ngoc (2024): Federal minimum wage expansion to homecare workers: Employment and income effects. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 87. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2024.102511
Abstract
"The rapid growth of the home care industry coincides with increases in the proportion of the population over 65 years of age and more likely to need assistance with basic daily activities due to illness or disability. Yet, the growth in home care use has been accompanied by concerns about the quality of the care provided. Higher wages and better legal protection might improve the quality of home health care services. This study examines the 2013 Home Care Rule promulgated by the Department of Labor, which added home care workers to the groups covered under the federal minimum wage with minimum hourly and overtime rates. The results show large effects (7–9 %) on part-time employment increase, small effects on work hour reduction (by 2–4 %), and nonnegative effect on overall employment level following the expansion. Despite the decline in hours worked, there is no negative impact on earnings among homecare workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Voluntary Minimum Wages (2024)
Zitatform
Derenoncourt, Ellora & David Weil (2024): Voluntary Minimum Wages. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 32546), Cambridge, Mass, 90 S.
Abstract
"Recent wage growth at the bottom of the earnings distribution in the U.S. has reversed a decades-long trend of widening wage inequality. Numerous state and local minimum wage increases have overtaken an effectively non-binding federal minimum, and robust labor demand in the post-pandemic recovery drove wage growth in the low-wage sector. An increasingly pervasive phenomenon over this same period (2014-2023) is the use of company-wide, voluntary minimum wages (VMWs) by private employers, including some of the largest U.S. retailers. We use anonymized payroll data for thousands of firms collected by a major credit bureau to study the effects of these policies on large retailers' own wages and employment, as well as spillover effects onto other employers in shared labor markets, variously defined. Using stacked event studies centered around multiple VMW events and a continuous treatment variable defined as the gap between local area wages and the company minimum, we find that VMWs result in sizable wage increases and reductions in turnover at the companies that implemented them. Turning to wages at other companies, including those connected to the large retailer by worker flows, we estimate precise, economically negligible spillover effects. Despite the decline in separations from companies with voluntary minimums, overall hiring rates at connected employers do not decline, consistent with substitutability across new hires. Although voluntary minimum wage policies have affected over 3 million jobs among the largest retailers, their impact on the broader labor market is limited." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Own-Wage Elasticity: Quantifying the Impact of Minimum Wages on Employment (2024)
Dube, Arindrajit; Zipperer, Ben;Zitatform
Dube, Arindrajit & Ben Zipperer (2024): Own-Wage Elasticity: Quantifying the Impact of Minimum Wages on Employment. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 32925), Cambridge, Mass, 61 S.
Abstract
"The own-wage elasticity (OWE) of employment estimated using minimum wage increases provides an economically meaningful measure of the policy on jobs. We discuss how to interpret the magnitude of the OWE, including in terms of welfare and under alternative models of the labor market. We present a comprehensive set of OWE estimates from 88 studies and introduce an regularly updated repository of the estimates---https://economic.github.io/owe---an up-to-date snapshot of the existing literature for scholars and policymakers. We find that most studies to date suggest a fairly modest impact of minimum wages on jobs: the median OWE estimate of 72 studies published in academic journals is -0.13, which suggests that only around 13 percent of the potential earnings gains from minimum wage increases are offset due to associated job losses. Estimates published since 2010 tend to be closer to zero." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Parental Labor Supply: Evidence from Minimum Wage Changes (2024)
Zitatform
Godøy, Anna, Michael Reich, Jesse Wursten & Sylvia Allegretto (2024): Parental Labor Supply. Evidence from Minimum Wage Changes. In: The Journal of Human Resources, Jg. 59, H. 2, S. 416-442. DOI:10.3368/jhr.1119-10540r2
Abstract
"We analyze effects of the minimum wage on the labor supply of parents of young children. Distributional difference-in-differences and event-study models document a sharp rise in employment rates of single mothers with children ages zero to five following minimum wage increases. Effects are concentrated among jobs paying close to the minimum wage. We find corresponding drops in the probability of staying out of the labor force to care for family members. Results are consistent with simple labor supply models in which childcare costs create barriers to employment. Minimum wage increases then enable greater labor force participation and reduce child poverty." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
Local minimum wage laws, boundary discontinuity methods, and policy spillovers (2024)
Zitatform
Jardim, Ekaterina, Mark C. Long, Robert Plotnick, Jacob Vigdor & Emma Wiles (2024): Local minimum wage laws, boundary discontinuity methods, and policy spillovers. In: Journal of Public Economics, Jg. 234. DOI:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105131
Abstract
"We use geographically precise longitudinal employment data documenting worker job-to-job mobility to study policy spillovers in the context of three local minimum wage increases. Estimated spillover impacts on wages and hours are statistically significant, geographically diffuse, and sufficient to create concern regarding interpretation of results even using not-immediately-adjacent regions as controls. Spillover effects appear less concerning with smaller interventions or those adopted in smaller jurisdictions. The boundary discontinuity method of causal inference may yield misleading results if a policy’s impacts do not stop at the border of the implementing jurisdiction." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))
-
Literaturhinweis
The effects of minimum wages on youth employment, unemployment, and income: Minimum wages reduce entry-level jobs, training, and lifetime income (2024)
Zitatform
Kalenkoski, Charlene Marie (2024): The effects of minimum wages on youth employment, unemployment, and income. Minimum wages reduce entry-level jobs, training, and lifetime income. (IZA world of labor 243,2), Bonn, 10 S. DOI:10.15185/izawol.243.v2
Abstract
"Empirische Studien belegen, dass Mindestlöhne die Beschäftigungschancen für junge Geringqualifizierte reduzieren. Zwar profitieren diejenigen, die einen Job finden, von höheren Einstiegslöhnen. Für arbeitslose Jugendliche wird der Arbeitsmarkteinstieg dagegen schwerer, was zu langfristigen Einkommenseinbußen führt. Das Lebenseinkommen sinkt zusätzlich aufgrund mangelnder betrieblicher Qualifizierungsangebote. Auszubildende sollten daher vom Mindestlohn ausgenommen sein. Durch staatliche Unterstützung in Form von Geld- oder Sachleistungen ließe sich ungelernten Jugendlichen effektiver helfen." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)
Aspekt auswählen:
Aspekt zurücksetzen
- Grundsätzliches zum flächendeckenden Mindestlohn
- Auswirkungen des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns auf
- Auswirkungen des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns auf Personengruppen
- Ausnahmen vom flächendeckenden Mindestlohn u.a. für
- Ausweichreaktionen auf Mindestlöhne in Deutschland
- Bundesländer
- Branchenspezifische Mindestlöhne und deren Auswirkungen auf
- Mindestlohn in anderen Ländern