[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp14926.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Did the Minimum Wage Reduce the Gender Wage Gap in Germany?

Author

Listed:
  • Caliendo, Marco

    (University of Potsdam)

  • Wittbrodt, Linda

    (University of Potsdam)

Abstract
In many countries, women are over-represented among low-wage employees, which is why a wage floor could benefit them particularly. Following this notion, we analyse the impact of the German minimum wage introduction in 2015 on the gender wage gap. Germany poses an interesting case study in this context, since it has a rather high gender wage gap and set the minimum wage at a relatively high level, affecting more than four million employees. Based on individual data from the Structure of Earnings Survey, containing information for over one million employees working in 60,000 firms, we use a difference-in-difference framework that exploits regional differences in the bite of the minimum wage. We find a significant negative effect of the minimum wage on the regional gender wage gap. Between 2014 and 2018, the gap at the 10th percentile of the wage distribution was reduced by 4.6 percentage points (or 32%) in regions that were strongly affected by the minimum wage compared to less affected regions. For the gap at the 25th percentile, the effect still amounted to -18%, while for the mean it was smaller (-11%) and not particularly robust. We thus find that the minimum wage can indeed reduce gender wage disparities. While the effect is highest for the low-paid, it also reaches up into higher parts of the wage distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Caliendo, Marco & Wittbrodt, Linda, 2021. "Did the Minimum Wage Reduce the Gender Wage Gap in Germany?," IZA Discussion Papers 14926, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14926
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp14926.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Wadsworth, 2010. "Did the National Minimum Wage Affect UK Prices?," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 81-120, March.
    2. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    3. Caliendo, Marco & Fedorets, Alexandra & Preuss, Malte & Schröder, Carsten & Wittbrodt, Linda, 2018. "The short-run employment effects of the German minimum wage reform," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 46-62.
    4. Peter Dolton & Chiara Rosazza Bondibene & Jonathan Wadsworth, 2012. "Employment, Inequality and the UK National Minimum Wage over the Medium‐Term," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(1), pages 78-106, February.
    5. Caliendo Marco & Wittbrodt Linda & Schröder Carsten, 2019. "The Causal Effects of the Minimum Wage Introduction in Germany – An Overview," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 257-292, August.
    6. Mark B. Stewart, 2002. "Estimating the Impact of the Minimum Wage Using Geographical Wage Variation," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(supplemen), pages 583-605, December.
    7. David Card, 1992. "Using Regional Variation in Wages to Measure the Effects of the Federal Minimum Wage," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(1), pages 22-37, October.
    8. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Patrick Kline, 2016. "Bargaining, Sorting, and the Gender Wage Gap: Quantifying the Impact of Firms on the Relative Pay of Women," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 633-686.
    9. Bachmann, Ronald & Boockmann, Bernhard & Gonschor, Myrielle & Kalweit, René & Klauser, Roman & Laub, Natalie & Rulff, Christian & Vonnahme, Christina, 2022. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Löhne und Arbeitszeiten," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 264288.
    10. Patrick Burauel & Marco Caliendo & Alexandra Fedorets & Markus M. Grabka & Carsten Schröder & Jürgen Schupp & Linda Wittbrodt, 2017. "Minimum Wage Not yet for Everyone: On the Compensation of Eligible Workers before and after the Minimum Wage Reform from the Perspective of Employees," DIW Economic Bulletin, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 7(49), pages 509-522.
    11. David Card, 1992. "Using Regional Variation in Wages to Measure the Effects of the Federal Minimum Wage," Working Papers 680, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    12. Burauel, Patrick & Caliendo, Marco & Grabka, Markus M. & Obst, Cosima & Preuss, Malte & Schröder, Carsten & Shupe, Cortnie, 2020. "The Impact of the German Minimum Wage on Individual Wages and Monthly Earnings," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 240(2/3), pages 201-231.
    13. Herzog-Stein, Alexander & Lübker, Malte & Pusch, Toralf & Schulten, Thorsten & Watt, Andrew, 2018. "Der Mindestlohn: Bisherige Auswirkungen und zukünftige Anpassung. Gemeinsame Stellungnahme von IMK und WSI anlässlich der schriftlichen Anhörung der Mindestlohnkommission," WSI Policy Briefs 24, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    14. Gabriel Ahlfeldt & Duncan Roth & Tobias Seidel, 2018. "The Regional Effects of a National Minimum Wage," CESifo Working Paper Series 6924, CESifo.
    15. repec:fth:prinin:300 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Ahlfeldt, Gabriel & Roth, Duncan & Seidel, Tobias, 2018. "The regional effects of Germany’s national minimum wage," CEPR Discussion Papers 13005, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Majchrowska, Aleksandra & Strawiński, Paweł, 2018. "Impact of minimum wage increase on gender wage gap: Case of Poland," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 174-185.
    18. Colella, Fabrizio & Lalive, Rafael & Sakalli, Seyhun Orcan & Thoenig, Mathias, 2019. "Inference with Arbitrary Clustering," IZA Discussion Papers 12584, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Barbara Broadway & Roger Wilkins, 2017. "Probing the Effects of the Australian System of Minimum Wages on the Gender Wage Gap," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2017n31, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    20. Bachmann, Ronald & Bonin, Holger & Boockmann, Bernhard & Demir, Gökay & Felder, Rahel & Isphording, Ingo & Kalweit, René & Laub, Natalie & Vonnahme, Christina & Zimpelmann, Christian, 2020. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Löhne und Arbeitszeiten: Studie im Auftrag der Mindestlohnkommission," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 222998.
    21. Burauel Patrick & Caliendo Marco & Grabka Markus M. & Obst Cosima & Preuss Malte & Schröder Carsten, 2020. "The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Working Hours," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(2-3), pages 233-267, April.
    22. Peter Dolton & Chiara Rosazza Bondibene & Jonathan Wadsworth, 2010. "The UK National Minimum Wage in Retrospect," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 509-534, December.
    23. Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. & Roth, Duncan & Seidel, Tobias, 2018. "The regional effects of Germany’s national minimum wage," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 127-130.
    24. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2015. "Wage compression and the gender pay gap," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 150-150, April.
    25. Helen Robinson, 2005. "Regional evidence on the effect of the national minimum wage on the gender pay gap," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(7), pages 855-872.
    26. Shi Li & Xinxin Ma, 2015. "Impact of minimum wage on gender wage gaps in urban China," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-22, December.
    27. Hobler, Dietmar & Pfahl, Svenja & Zucco, Aline, 2020. "30 Jahre Deutsche Einheit: Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern auf den Arbeitsmärkten in West- und Ostdeutschland?," WSI Reports 60, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    28. Olivier Bargain & Karina Doorley & Philippe Van Kerm, 2019. "Minimum Wages and the Gender GAP in Pay: New Evidence from the United Kingdom and Ireland," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(3), pages 514-539, September.
    29. repec:iza:izawol:journl:y:2015:p:150 is not listed on IDEAS
    30. Alexandra Fedorets & Markus M. Grabka & Carsten Schröder, 2019. "Minimum Wage: Many Entitled Employees in Germany Still Do Not Receive It," DIW Weekly Report, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 9(28/29), pages 223-231.
    31. Bonin, Holger & Isphording, Ingo E. & Krause-Pilatus, Annabelle & Lichter, Andreas & Pestel, Nico & Rinne, Ulf & al., et, 2018. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Beschäftigung, Arbeitszeit und Arbeitslosigkeit," IZA Research Reports 83, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    32. Boll, Christina & Hüning, Hendrik & Leppin, Julian & Puckelwald, Johannes, 2015. "Potential effects of a statutory minimum wage on the gender pay gap: A simulation-based study for Germany," HWWI Research Papers 163, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    33. Mary Hallward-Driemeier & Bob Rijkers & Andrew Waxman, 2017. "Can Minimum Wages Close the Gender Wage Gap?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(2), pages 310-334, June.
    34. Pestel, Nico & Bonin, Holger & Isphording, Ingo E. & Gregory, Terry & Caliendo, Marco, 2020. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Beschäftigung und Arbeitslosigkeit," IZA Research Reports 95, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    35. Dolton, Peter & Bondibene, Chiara Rosazza & Stops, Michael, 2015. "Identifying the employment effect of invoking and changing the minimum wage: A spatial analysis of the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 54-76.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bossler, Mario & Liang, Ying & Schank, Thorsten, 2024. "The Devil Is in the Details: Heterogeneous Effects of the German Minimum Wage on Working Hours and Minijobs," IZA Discussion Papers 16964, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Moritz Drechsel‐Grau & Andreas Peichl & Kai D. Schmid & Johannes F. Schmieder & Hannes Walz & Stefanie Wolter, 2022. "Inequality and income dynamics in Germany," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1593-1635, November.
    3. Garcia-Louzao, Jose & Tarasonis, Linas, 2023. "Wage and Employment Impact of Minimum Wage: Evidence from Lithuania," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 592-609.
    4. Biewen, Martin & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Rümmele, Marian, 2022. "Using Distribution Regression Difference-in-Differences to Evaluate the Effects of a Minimum Wage Introduction on the Distribution of Hourly Wages and Hours Worked," IZA Discussion Papers 15534, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Heiko Stüber & Markus M. Grabka & Daniel D. Schnitzlein, 2023. "A tale of two data sets: comparing German administrative and survey data using wage inequality as an example," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 57(1), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Oliveira, Carlos, 2023. "The minimum wage and the wage distribution in Portugal," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Clemens Ohlert, 2024. "Minimum Wage Effects on Gender Gaps in Working Hours and Earnings in Germany," Working Papers 663, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    8. Carlos Oliveira, 2022. "How is the Minimum Wage Shaping the Wage Disitribution: Bite, Spillovers, and Wage Inequality," GEE Papers 0160, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised May 2022.
    9. José-Ignacio Antón & Rafael Grande & Rafael Muñoz de Bustillo & Fernando Pinto, 2023. "Gender Gaps in Working Conditions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 53-83, February.
    10. Luke Haywood, 2023. "Gendered Effects of the Minimum Wage," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2023/450, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    11. Schmid, Ramona, 2022. "Mind the gap: Effects of the national minimum wage on the gender wage gap in Germany," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 06-2022, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marco Caliendo & Alexandra Fedorets & Malte Preuss & Carsten Schröder & Linda Wittbrodt, 2023. "The short- and medium-term distributional effects of the German minimum wage reform," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1149-1175, March.
    2. Mario Bossler & Thorsten Schank, 2023. "Wage Inequality in Germany after the Minimum Wage Introduction," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(3), pages 813-857.
    3. Isphording, Ingo E. & Caliendo, Marco & Mahlstedt, Robert & Pestel, Nico & Zimpelmann, Christian, 2022. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf individuelle Beschäftigungsbewegungen und betriebliche Lohnstrukturen in den Jahren 2015 bis 2020," IZA Research Reports 133, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Caliendo Marco & Wittbrodt Linda & Schröder Carsten, 2019. "The Causal Effects of the Minimum Wage Introduction in Germany – An Overview," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 257-292, August.
    5. Bonin Holger & Isphording Ingo E. & Krause-Pilatus Annabelle & Lichter Andreas & Pestel Nico & Rinne Ulf, 2020. "The German Statutory Minimum Wage and Its Effects on Regional Employment and Unemployment," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(2-3), pages 295-319, April.
    6. Arindrajit Dube & Attila S. Lindner, 2024. "Minimum Wages in the 21st Century," NBER Working Papers 32878, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner, 2024. "Minimum Wages in the 21st Century," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2425, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    8. Bachmann, Ronald & Boockmann, Bernhard & Gonschor, Myrielle & Kalweit, René & Klauser, Roman & Laub, Natalie & Rulff, Christian & Vonnahme, Christina, 2022. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Löhne und Arbeitszeiten," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 264288.
    9. Sebastian Link, 2019. "The Price and Employment Response of Firms to the Introduction of Minimum Wages," CESifo Working Paper Series 7575, CESifo.
    10. Bachmann, Ronald & Bonin, Holger & Boockmann, Bernhard & Demir, Gökay & Felder, Rahel & Isphording, Ingo & Kalweit, René & Laub, Natalie & Vonnahme, Christina & Zimpelmann, Christian, 2020. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Löhne und Arbeitszeiten: Studie im Auftrag der Mindestlohnkommission," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 222998.
    11. Börschlein, Benjamin & Bossler, Mario, 2021. "A new machine learning-based treatment bite for long run minimum wage evaluations," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242441, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Philipp Berge & Hanna Frings, 2020. "High-impact minimum wages and heterogeneous regions," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 701-729, August.
    13. Pestel, Nico & Bonin, Holger & Isphording, Ingo E. & Gregory, Terry & Caliendo, Marco, 2020. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Beschäftigung und Arbeitslosigkeit," IZA Research Reports 95, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Bossler, Mario & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Lochner, Benjamin & Betzl, Ute & Feist, Lisa & Wegmann, Jakob, 2018. "Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf Betriebe und Unternehmen," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201804, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    15. Caliendo, Marco & Fedorets, Alexandra & Preuss, Malte & Schröder, Carsten & Wittbrodt, Linda, 2018. "The short-run employment effects of the German minimum wage reform," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 46-62.
    16. Fedorets, Alexandra & Shupe, Cortnie, 2021. "Great expectations: Reservation wages and minimum wage reform," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 397-419.
    17. Kunaschk, Max, 2024. "The effects of minimum wages on employment and prices—Evidence from the hairdressing sector," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    18. Bruttel, Oliver, 2019. "The effects of the new statutory minimum wage in Germany: a first assessment of the evidence," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 53(1), pages 1-10.
    19. Schmid, Ramona, 2022. "Mind the gap: Effects of the national minimum wage on the gender wage gap in Germany," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 06-2022, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    20. Marco Caliendo & Nico Pestel & Rebecca Olthaus, 2023. "Long-Term Employment Effects of the Minimum Wage in Germany: New Data and Estimators," Papers 2310.15964, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    minimum wage; gender wage gap; regional bite;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14926. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.