Impacts of minimum wages: review of the international evidence
Impacts of minimum wages: review of the international evidence
This report reviews the international evidence on the impacts of minimum wages, as well as recent research documenting the impact of the National Living Wage (NLW) in the UK, to inform the UK government’s decisions on the future remit of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) beyond 2020. Overall the most up to date body of research from US, UK and other developed countries points to a very muted effect of minimum wages on employment, while significantly increasing the earnings of low paid workers. Importantly, this was found to be the case even for the most recent ambitious policies