Can the minimum wage be raised?

There ha ve been widespread proposals to raise the minimum wage sharply in order to improve purchasing power and reduce inequality. But many economists are hostile to an increase in the minimum wage, pointing to its negative effect on employment, especially low-skilled employment and youth employment. So can the minimum wage be raised , or is it too dangerous for employment? The academic literature offers a variety of findings that differ greatly from one country to another and from one study to another. On average, these studies show that increases in the minimum wage have a small negative effect on employment; But one can look at the conditions that might prevent an increase in the minimum wage from having a negative effect on employment: The relative levels of wages and productivity, the level of corporate profit margins; Therefore the state of competition in the labour market and in the goods and services market; Companies’ hiring difficulties and the sensitivity of the labour supply to wages; The positive effect of wage increases on demand for goods and services; The effects of the reallocation of employment from less efficient companies to more efficient companies.