The Impact of Minimum Wages on Migrant Workers’ Wages

Abstract

With the continuous increasing of minimum wages in China from 474 yuan in 2004 to 1072 yuan in 2011 on average, the impact of minimum wages on migrant workers’ wages needs to be reevaluated. Contrast to other OECD countries, the regulated minimum wages in China did not specify the legal working hours. Employers may extend the workers’ working hours to compensate the increased costs. This chapter employs a large migrant household survey to investigate the impact of minimum wages increasing on migrant workers’ wages by considering the working hours. The results show minimum wages only have small negative impacts on migrants’ employment, and its impacts on rural female workers are larger than other groups. Without controlling working hours, minimum wages’ increase will improve rural migrants and West migrants’ wages. However, minimum wages’ increase intensifies rural male workers’ working hours; therefore, it has no significant impact on migrant workers’ wages after considering working hours.