The minimum wage is one of the key instruments used by policymakers to bolster the earnings
and wellbeing of low-wage workers. From proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15 at the federal level to local efforts to increase city and state minimum wages, this policy features prominently in many “future of work” discussions. But what remains unclear is the extent to which the minimum wage is effective in aiding those most vulnerable economically versus those more well-off, as well as the impact of such increases on business owners.
Senior Research Scientist Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D., is working on two new studies that will help to answer these questions. A grant from the William T. Grant Foundation will fund a two-year investigation of the long-term impacts on job-level inequality measures for young workers from low-income families. And a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation will fund a two-year examination of the immediate and long-term impacts of state minimum wage increases on the job quality of low-wage workers.
“Both projects will help us better understand how minimum wage policies potentially impact low-wage workers, particularly young workers, in the long run,” said Kerr. “Having this kind of evidence is rare but so critical to debates around the minimum wage.”
