Ambiguous effects of minimum wage tool of labour markets regulation – key study of V4 countries

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the effect of minimum wage change on selected labour market indicators such as duration of employment, hours worked, unemployment by education or profession or long-term unemployment. Our research is based on Eurostat and OECD data for V4 countries. The hypothesis discussed is whether the effect of minimum wage increase is positive or negative and we discuss the issue of economic regulation more generally. The output values of the regressions coefficients of all the V4 countries showed that the effects are more positive than negative. Mapping the overall intensity of effects of the minimum wage on selected indicator of the labour market in the Czech Republic and Hungary indicated a low sensitivity. The effects were very weak in Slovakia and Poland. The results of the analysis complied with the results of the domestic and international research in 13 cases and the results were different in 6 cases. Slightly more often they confirmed more positive effects of the minimum wage on selected indicators of the labour market than negative effects.