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Minimum Wage Effects on Employment and Working Time of Chinese Workers

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Minimum Wages in China

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Abstract

This chapter examines the impact of minimum wage policies on employment, income, and working time of Chinese workers. Using data from China Health and Nutrition Survey, the authors focus on identifying the effects of minimum wage adjustments using a pre-specified model. The authors control for lagged minimum wage standards, individual characteristics, provincial population and economic factors, and fixed effects of province and time. The authors find that the increase of minimum wages has barely noticeable effect on employment and some positive effects on wage income for low-income workers. While it shortens the average working hours for workers, it does not have significant effects on the relative working time for the different income groups. These findings may imply some beneficial effects of the minimum wage policies for Chinese workers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

    Wenkai Sun, Xianghong Wang & Xiaoxi Zhang

Authors
  1. Wenkai Sun
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  2. Xianghong Wang
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  3. Xiaoxi Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xianghong Wang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Universityy, Zhejiang, China

    Shi Li

  2. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, USA

    Carl Lin

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Sun, W., Wang, X., Zhang, X. (2020). Minimum Wage Effects on Employment and Working Time of Chinese Workers. In: Li, S., Lin, C. (eds) Minimum Wages in China. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2421-9_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2421-9_14

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-2420-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-2421-9

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

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