The Impact of Minimum Wages on Youth Employment in France Revisited : A Note on the Robustness of the Relationship

Recent studies of the French experience find a small, negative impact of the minimum wage on young persons′ employment, a finding which has led to a political debate over the role of sub‐minimum wage rates for youths. The current study initially aimed simply to update previous work. However, the employment series for young persons has been revised in a non‐negligible manner and the results obtained show that the impact of the minimum wage is far less robust than previously thought. The desirability of sub‐minimum rates for young persons would appear questionable.