In Germany, decreasing collective bargaining coverage and rising wage inequality led to the introduction of a new statutory minimum wage of € 8.50 per hour of work. We analyze the relationship between the bite of the minimum wage and employment/ unemployment growth using regional data of the...

It is commonplace in the debate on Germany’s labor market problems to argue that high unemployment and low wage dispersion are related. This paper analyses the relationship between unemployment and residual wage dispersion for individuals with comparable attributes. In the conventional...