People Versus Machines: The Impact of Minimum Wages on Automatable Jobs / Grace Lordan, David Neumark.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lordan, Grace.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Neumark, David.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w23667.

NBER working paper series no. w23667

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

People Versus Machines

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2017.

Summary:

We study the effect of minimum wage increases on employment in automatable jobs - jobs in which employers may find it easier to substitute machines for people - focusing on low-skilled workers for whom such substitution may be spurred by minimum wage increases. Based on CPS data from 1980-2015, we find that increasing the minimum wage decreases significantly the share of automatable employment held by low-skilled workers, and increases the likelihood that low-skilled workers in automatable jobs become nonemployed or employed in worse jobs. The average effects mask significant heterogeneity by industry and demographic group, including substantive adverse effects for older, low-skilled workers in manufacturing. We also find some evidence that the same changes improve job opportunities for higher-skilled workers. The findings imply that groups often ignored in the minimum wage literature are in fact quite vulnerable to employment changes and job loss because of automation following a minimum wage increase.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2017.