Minimum wage and self-employed business owners: Evidence from South Korea

B-Tier
Journal: Labour Economics
Year: 2024
Volume: 88
Issue: C

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This study examines the influences of minimum wage on self-employment exits, using recent changes in the minimum wage level in South Korea. Using the cross-industry variation on the impact of the minimum wage—the proportion of workers whose wages are below the minimum wage in the upcoming year—combined with individual longitudinal data, I estimate the model of self-employment exits. Overall, the estimates show that the minimum wage hike has no significant impact on self-employed workers. However, it increases the likelihood of the business closing for the self-employed who hire employees. The results imply that a ten percent increase in the minimum wage raises the exit probability by 2.6 percentage points, which is 30.9 % of the average exit rate for those with employees. Moreover, the exits are significantly associated with the transition to non-employment.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:labeco:v:88:y:2024:i:c:s0927537124000344
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-24