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Gender and the Minimum Wage

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Regulating for Decent Work

Part of the book series: Advances in Labour Studies ((AILS))

Abstract

A statutory minimum wage is an important element of a gender equality policy programme. While much of mainstream economics still assumes that minimum wages distort the functioning of labour markets, there is accumulating evidence that labour markets without regulation do not operate efficiently. Differential rent sharing across industries, imperfect labour mobility and idiosyncratic employer strategies mean there is no tendency towards the law of one price in labour markets. Moreover, these features are gendered: more women than men are likely to be employed in industries where employers have a limited ability to pay, to be hindered by immobility caused by family position and access to welfare benefits and, as a consequence, to be vulnerable to monopsonistic employer power. A minimum wage can act as a strategic instrument in countering some of these distortionary effects and smoothing out some of the imbalances that result from the interactions between sex segmentation of labour supply and sex segregation in employment with processes of wage-setting.

This chapter draws on a range of related work, including work undertaken in 2002 for the ILO on pay equity and minimum wages and more recent work during 2007–10 for the EC on minimum wages and collective bargaining (DG Employment), for the ILO on minimum wages and pay equity and for the World Bank on the labour market flexibility debate and women’s employment. We are grateful to all three organizations for their support.

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Authors
  1. Jill Rubery
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  2. Damian Grimshaw
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University of Manchester, UK

    Deirdre McCann (Senior Lecturer in the School of Law) (Senior Lecturer in the School of Law)

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© 2011 International Labour Organization

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Rubery, J., Grimshaw, D. (2011). Gender and the Minimum Wage. In: Lee, S., McCann, D. (eds) Regulating for Decent Work. Advances in Labour Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307834_9

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