The impact of minimum wage legislation in developing countries where coverage is incomplete

This paper examines the impact of minimum wage legislation in developing countries where coverage is incomplete. Using a rich data set from Ghana, it estimates the extent to which a binding minimum wage alters employment in both the formal and informal sectors of the labor market. The data reveal that Ghana`s minimum wage policies during the 1970s and 1980s led to a reduction of formal sector jobs and an increase in informal sector jobs. In addition, there is some evidence to suggest that a large proportion of the displaced workers from the formal sector ended up working in the informal sector.