Employment effects of minimum wages disregards those most affected: Comment on the position of König and Möller

The contribution by Marion König and Joachim Möller of the Institute for Labour Market and Occupational Research in Nuremberg on the employment effects of minimum wages uses the high-quality, random sample data of employees subject to social insurance contributions. Their approach consists in comparing the likelihood of those directly affected by a minimum wage of retaining their jobs with the likelihood of employees earning somewhat higher wages of retaining their jobs. Köning and Möller are neither able to identify a uniform loss of employment over all occupational groups caused by minimum wages nor the job losses of those mostly affected, the posted workers and those on contracts for works and services. The former is because of the methodology they employ; the latter is not possible because of the data base they use.