This unbiased look at the minimum wage debate in America traces the history of minimum wage policy at both the federal and state levels, discusses the controversies swirling around the issue, and examines the veracity of claims made by people on both sides of the debate. Minimum wage inspires debate among many Americans—from advocates who consider it beneficial to the poor and middle class to those who feel it leads to greater unemployment. This comprehensive overview examines the history, policies, and key players in the minimum wage arena and discusses the various controversies that have surrounded it. Author Oren M. Levin-Waldman presents a balanced approach to the topic, shedding light on legitimate evidence from both sides of the argument and debunking claims based on ideology, partisanship, and distortions of data. The book presents an historical overview from the early 20th century through the present day, exploring the various legal issues, benefits, and potential problems of low-wage labor markets. Contributions from key economists along with profiles of seminal figures and organizations present a variety of different perspectives and show the expanse of political, economic, and academic involvement in marshaling effective solutions. The content features informative data, resources for further action, a helpful chronology, and a thorough glossary.

Belman and Wolfson perform a meta-analysis on scores of published studies on the effects of the minimum wage to determine its impacts on employment, wages, poverty, and more.

In The Minimum Wage and Labor Market Outcomes, Christopher Flinn argues that in assessing the effects of the minimum wage (in the United States and elsewhere), a behavioral framework is invaluable for guiding empirical work and the interpretation of results. Flinn develops a job search and wage bargaining model that is capable of generating labor market outcomes consistent with observed wage and unemployment duration distributions, and also can account for observed changes in employment rates and wages after a minimum wage change. Flinn uses previous studies from the minimum wage literature to demonstrate how his model can be used to rationalize and synthesize the diverse results found in widely varying institutional contexts. He also shows how observed wage distributions from before and after a minimum wage change can be used to determine if the change was welfare-improving. More ambitiously, and perhaps controversially, Flinn proposes the construction and formal estimation of the model using commonly available data; model estimates then enable the researcher to determine directly the welfare effects of observed minimum wage changes. This model can be used to conduct counterfactual policy experiments---even to determine "optimal" minimum wages under a variety of welfare metrics. --

This book traces the historical evolution of minimum-wage policy and explains how models are used (and misused) by different interests to achieve their particular aims. Minimum-wage policy was initially legitimated as a broader labor-market policy aimed at achieving greater productivity and labor-market stability. As organized labor has declined as a political force in the last twenty years, the nature of the debate has metamorphized into a narrowly focused and often highly technical discussion concerned with specific effects of given specific increases in the minimum wage, such as either relieving poverty or the so-called adverse effects on youth unemployment. This change has coincided with the greatest stagnation of the minimum wage.

Includes DOL report "Results of the Minimum-Wage Increase of 1950: Economic Effects in Selected Low-Wage Industries and Establishments," Aug. 1954 (p. 191-313)

The Clinton administration has claimed its proposal to increase the minimum wage would not affect employment; other research supports that a higher minimum wage means fewer jobs.

Report of a Commission on social implications, economic implications and political aspects of the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, labour legislation, USA, 1938 - presents research results and recommendations commenting on the impact on employment and unemployment, inflation, minimum wage indexation, income distribution, exemptions, noncompliance, etc. And research papers giving demographic aspects, national level, local level, regional level and sectoral details. Graphs, references and statistical tables.,