Dispelling Minimum Wage Mythology

The Minimum Wage and the Impact on Jobs in Canada, 1983–2012
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October 21, 2014
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This report conducts a wide empirical study of Canadian employment data in search of any evidence that higher minimum wages reduce employment or increase unemployment. It examines the relationship between minimum wages and employment in all ten Canadian provinces between 1983 and 2012, and finds no consistent evidence that minimum wage levels affect employment in either direction. Instead, the research concludes that employment levels are overwhelmingly determined by larger macroeconomic factors.

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