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Minimum Wages and Employment Report

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The authors of this paper are in search for how employers in a low-wage labor market respond to an increase in the minimum wage. Specifically the raise in the minimum wage of New Jersey (NJ) on April 1st 1992 from $4.25 to $5.05 per hour and how this effected the surrounding areas employment level. This question is of interest to students of economic because we would expect to see a case study like this follow the labor of demand theory, as wage increase, employment decreases. However this paper finding indicates that the rise of minimum wage does not reduce employment. Which for someone studying economic comes as a shock, and the opposite of the models we have learned in previous class. This paper is not alone in these findings because as mentioned in the paper its self earlier studies have come to the same conclusion. So as a student this gives us a real life example of the labor demand theory being disproven, at least for this case study.
Both of the authors of this paper have credibility and useful backgrounds. Dr. David Card earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen’s University in 1978 and his Ph.D. in Economics in 1983 from Princeton University. His main field of study is labor economics; having authored 4 books over 90 journal articles and book chapters, while currently teaching at the University of California Berkley. Dr. Alan B. Krueger received a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University in 1983, a Master’s of Arts in Economics from Harvard University in 1985 and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1987. One of his areas of study is the effect of minimum wage on employment; he has also published multiple books and journal articles. He was the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors for President Obama from 2011 to 2013, and is currently a professor at Princeton University.
The data for this paper was surveyed from 410

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