Minimum wage policy in Ireland

Redmond, Paul Research Report Minimum wage policy in Ireland Budget Perspectives, No. 2021/2 Provided in Cooperation with: The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Dublin Suggested Citation: Redmond, Paul (2020) : Minimum wage policy in Ireland, Budget Perspectives, No. 2021/2, The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Dublin, https://doi.org/10.26504/bp202102 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/227618 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ MINIMUM WAGE POLICY IN IRELAND PAUL REDMOND BUDGET PERSPECTIVES 2021 PAPER 2 May 2020 E V I D E N C E F O R P O L I C Y MINIMUM WAGE POLICY IN IRELAND Paul Redmond May 2020 BUDGET PERSPECTIVES 2021 PAPER 2 Available to download from www.esri.ie DOI: https://doi.org/10.26504/bp202102  2020 The Economic and Social Research Institute Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2 This Open Access work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. ABOUT THE ESRI The mission of the Economic and Social Research Institute is to advance evidencebased policymaking that supports economic sustainability and social progress in Ireland. ESRI researchers apply the highest standards of academic excellence to challenges facing policymakers, focusing on 12 areas of critical importance to 21st Century Ireland. The Institute was founded in 1960 by a group of senior civil servants led by Dr T.K. Whitaker, who identified the need for independent and in-depth research analysis to provide a robust evidence base for policymaking in Ireland. Since then, the Institute has remained committed to independent research and its work is free of any expressed ideology or political position. The Institute publishes all research reaching the appropriate academic standard, irrespective of its findings or who funds the research. The quality of its research output is guaranteed by a rigorous peer review process. ESRI researchers are experts in their fields and are committed to producing work that meets the highest academic standards and practices. The work of the Institute is disseminated widely in books, journal articles and reports. ESRI publications are available to download, free of charge, from its website. Additionally, ESRI staff communicate research findings at regular conferences and seminars. The ESRI is a company limited by guarantee, answerable to its members and governed by a Council, comprising 14 members who represent a cross-section of ESRI members from academia, civil services, state agencies, businesses and civil society. The Institute receives an annual grant-in-aid from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to support the scientific and public interest elements of the Institute’s activities; the grant accounted for an average of 30 per cent of the Institute’s income over the lifetime of the last Research Strategy. The remaining funding comes from research programmes supported by government departments and agencies, public bodies and competitive research programmes. Further information is available at www.esri.ie THE AUTHOR Paul Redmond is a Research Officer at the ESRI and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was undertaken as part of the Tax, Welfare and Pensions programme at the ESRI. Funding for the Tax, Welfare and Pensions Research Programme (supported by the Departments of Employment Affairs and Social Protection; Public Expenditure and Reform; Health, Children and Youth Affairs; and Finance) is gratefully acknowledged. I thank the CSO and ISSDA for access to the LFS data. I would like to thank Seamus McGuinness, Helen Russell, Alan Barrett, Karina Doorley, Barra Roantree, Donal O’Neill, Dermot Coates, Kate O’Donnell and two anonymous referees for their comments. This paper has been accepted for publication by the Institute, which does not itself take institutional policy positions. The paper has been peer reviewed prior to publication. The authors are solely responsible for the content and the views expressed. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction and policy background ........................................................................................... 1 2 Minimum wage employment in Ireland: incidence and employee characteristics .................... 3 3 Evidence on the impact of minimum wages ............................................................................... 5 3.1 Employment effects ............................................................................................................ 5 3.2 Wage inequality and poverty .............................................................................................. 7 3.3 Labour market transitions ................................................................................................... 8 3.4 Compliance with minimum wage legislation ...................................................................... 8 4 Implications of the Covid-19 crisis for minimum wage employment ......................................... 9 5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 12 References ............................................................................................................................................ 14 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Hourly minimum wage rates for adult workers in Ireland (2000–2020) ................................ 3 Table 2 Incidence of minimum wage employment in Ireland (2017 to 2019) .................................... 4 Table 3 Characteristics of employees in the retail and accommodation and food sectors and other employees ............................................................................................................................. 10 1 MINIMUM WAGE POLICY IN IRELAND ABSTRACT I provide an overview of minimum wage policy in Ireland over the past 20 years, and survey the recent evidence on the economic impacts of a minimum wage. Drawing on this evidence, I analyse the potential implications of the recent Covid19 crisis on minimum wage employment in Ireland. The recent evidence shows that minimum wage increases in Ireland have not led to increased job loss among minimum wage workers, but have resulted in some reductions in hours worked among certain groups. Minimum wage increases have led to reductions in wage inequality and the minimum wage has been shown to be important in keeping wage inequality low during recessions. Recent estimates show that more than half of minimum wage employees in Ireland work in the retail, accommodation and food sectors. These sectors have experienced widespread business closures due to the Covid-19 crisis, suggesting that low-wage employees may be disproportionately impacted by job losses. Those who have lost their job may claim the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) of €350 per week. Minimum wage employees in retail or accommodation and food work, on average, 23 hours per week. This means that the PUP payment is 50 per cent higher than the gross weekly wage of the average minimum wage employee in these sectors. However, the PUP payment was an emergency short-term (12-week) measure, and it seems likely that it will be amended or tapered in coming weeks to address these types of anomalies. 1 INTRODUCTION AND POLICY BACKGROUND Prior to April 2000, minimum wages in Ireland were set by industry-specific Joint Labour Committees (JLCs). However, most Irish workers were not covered by these agreements, and for those that were covered, wages were low and enforcement was weak (O’Neill, 2004). A national minimum wage was introduced in April 2000, at a rate of €5.58 per hour (or £4.40 in Irish pounds).1 From 2000 to 2007, there were regular increases in the minimum wage, which reached €8.65 per hour in July 2007. However, 2008 saw the onset of a severe and prolonged economic downturn, during which time the unemployment rate increased from approximately 5 per cent in 2007 to 15 per cent in 2013.2 Coinciding with the recession, there was a long period, from 2008 to 2015, during which the minimum wage did not increase. On one occasion, in January 2011, the minimum wage was reduced from €8.65 to €7.65 per hour. However, this decision was reversed six months later and the minimum wage was restored to its original level in July 2011. 1 This is provided for in legislation by the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000. 2 For a detailed overview of the Irish labour market over this period, see Bergin et al. (2020). 2 Against the backdrop of an economic recovery, the Irish Low Pay Commission was established in 2015, and tasked with providing the Irish government with yearly recommendations relating to the minimum wage. Following recommendations from the Low Pay Commission, the minimum wage was increased from €8.65 to €9.15 per hour in January 2016. This was the first increase in the minimum wage since July 2007. Based on recommendations from the Low Pay Commission, further yearly increases were implemented from 2017 to 2020. Table 1 lists the statutory minimum wage rates from 2000 to 2020. The current minimum wage in Ireland, as of January 2020, is €10.10 per hour for an experienced adult worker. Sub-minimum wage rates exist for specific categories of employees. Prior to 2019, sub-minimum rates, expressed as a percentage of the full rate, existed for employees under 18 years of age (70 per cent), employees in their first year of employment (80 per cent), employees in their second year of employment (90 per cent), and those in structured training during working hours (75, 80 or 90 per cent, depending on level of progression). In 2019, following recommendations from the Low Pay Commission, the training rates were abolished and sub-minimum rates were simplified to age-based rates only. For employees under 18 years, the hourly rate is €7.07. For those aged 18, it is €8.08 and for those aged 19 it is €9.09. Recent evidence on the incidence of sub-minimum wage employment indicates that, of all minimum wage employees, 85 per cent earn the minimum wage while just 15 percent earn less than the minimum wage (McGuinness et al., 2020).3 In the discussion that follows, we define minimum wage employees as those earning the minimum wage or less. Given the small sample sizes involved in sub-minimum wage employees, carrying out separate analysis for this subgroup is typically not feasible. 3 Previous work by Kelly and McGuinness (2017), using 2009 National Employment Survey data, also showed a very low incidence of sub-minimum wage employment. 3 TABLE 1 HOURLY MINIMUM WAGE RATES FOR ADULT WORKERS IN IRELAND (2000–2020) Date Minimum wage (€) Increase in minimum wage (€) Increase in minimum wage (%) 1 April 2000 5.58 (£4.40) – – 1 July 2001 6.00 (£4.70) 0.42 7.5 1 October 2002 6.35 (£5.00) 0.35 5.8 1 February 2004 7.00 0.65 10.2 1 May 2005 7.65 0.65 9.3 1 January 2007 8.30 0.65 8.5 1 July 2007 8.65 0.35 4.2 19 January 2011 7.65 –1.00 –11.6 1 July 2011 8.65 1.00 13.1 1 January 2016 9.15 0.50 5.8 1 January 2017 9.25 0.10 1.1 1 January 2018 9.55 0.30 3.2 1 January 2019 9.80 0.25 2.6 1 January 2020 10.10 0.30 3.1 Source: www.lowpaycommission.ie Internationally, statutory minimum wages are a commonly used policy tool. As of 2019, 22 EU member states, including Ireland, had a statutory minimum wage (Eurofound, 2019). The aim of minimum wage policy, as outlined by the Irish Low Pay Commission, is to assist as many low-paid workers as possible without creating adverse consequences for employment. A large body of research examines the employment effects of minimum wage increases, while another strand of literature attempts to quantify the benefits to low-paid employees. In this paper, I will review this evidence, paying particular attention to the recent evidence that has emerged regarding minimum wage policy in Ireland. I will then draw on this evidence to examine the potential implications of the Covid-19 crisis for minimum wage employment in Ireland. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 discusses the incidence of minimum wage employment in Ireland, as well as the average characteristics of minimum wage employees. Section 3 surveys the evidence on the economic impacts of minimum wage policies. Section 4 outlines the potential implications of the Covid-19 crisis on minimum wage employment in Ireland, and Section 5 concludes. 2 MINIMUM WAGE EMPLOYMENT IN IRELAND: INCIDENCE AND EMPLOYEE CHARACTERISTICS In quarter 2 of 2016, following consultation with the Low Pay Commission, a question was added to Ireland’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) that directly asks 10 among minimum wage employees. In other sectors, the average weekly hours worked is 36 hours per week for all employees and 30 hours per week for minimum wage employees. There is also a higher incidence of part-time work, students and temporary contracts among minimum wage employees. Finally, non-Irish nationals are heavily concentrated in the accommodation and food sector: 33 per cent of all employees and 29 per cent of minimum wage employees in accommodation and food are non-Irish nationals. Taken together, the results in Table 3 indicate that women, part-time workers, those with lower education levels, non-Irish nationals and those on temporary employment contracts may be disproportionately impacted by job losses in the retail and accommodation and food sectors. An important caveat is required at this point. While many retail outlets have closed, essential retail services such as supermarkets remain open, and their employees remain in jobs. Therefore, not all workers in the retail sector will be affected. It is also important to point out that employees in other sectors are not immune to the economic disruption and job losses associated with Covid-19. Quantifying the full extent to which the Covid-19 crisis affects employment across sectors will be an important avenue for research in the near future. TABLE 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPLOYEES IN THE RETAIL AND ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD SECTORS AND OTHER EMPLOYEES Retail employees Accommodation and food employees Other employees All MW All MW All MW Female 63% 65% 55% 60% 48% 46% Tertiary education 29% 16% 30% 19% 56% 19% Hours worked 30 22 30 23 36 30 Part-time 41% 72% 43% 70% 16% 42% Temporary contract 13% 35% 18% 35% 8% 29% Student 16% 43% 22% 44% 6% 26% Non-Irish national 18% 14% 33% 29% 16% 22% Sample size 15,521 2778 10,992 3095 127,525 5558 Source: Labour Force Survey (2017–2019). Note: Tertiary education is defined as ISCED (2011) levels 5 to 8. When public health measures are eased and parts of the economy begin to reopen, some employees may re-enter their previous roles or find new jobs in similar roles. However, given the international scale of this crisis, it seems likely that tourism will take a long time to recover. When hotels and restaurants re-open, operating socialdistancing measures may be difficult and may not be financially viable for some. Therefore, the accommodation and food sector, which employs one quarter of all 11 minimum wage employees, could be facing a more prolonged period of disruption than other sectors. In response to the job losses associated with the Covid-19 public health emergency, the Irish government introduced the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) for those who lost their jobs due to the crisis. The PUP consists of a flat rate of €350 per week. From Table 3, we know that the average minimum wage employee in the retail and accommodation and food sectors worked approximately 23 hours per week. This equates to a gross weekly wage of €232.30. This means that the PUP payment is 50 per cent higher than the gross weekly wage of the average minimum wage employee in the retail and accommodation and food sectors. Recent work by Beirne et al. (2020) estimates that the income from PUP may leave approximately 120,000 low-income families financially better off than if they were in employment. However, it should be noted that the PUP payment was an emergency measure introduced at short notice for a specified period of time (12 weeks). It seems likely that this payment will be altered or tapered at the end of the 12-week period.8 The relatively high (compared to standard jobseeker’s benefit) PUP payment may also have implications for those considering returning to employment when the economy begins to reopen. There is now an added health risk for those who are working and this will result in a higher reservation wage. Therefore, individuals in receipt of PUP, and even those on standard jobseeker’s benefits, may for a given wage rate, be less willing to accept a job now than before the crisis. Notably, several large retailers in Ireland have recently implemented wage increases for their employees, which may be indicative of a higher reservation wage among these workers.9 In addition to PUP, the Irish government implemented the Covid-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) to encourage employers to retain employees on their books, thereby maintaining the employer–employee link. For employers that participate, the Irish government refunds part of the employee’s wage. From 4 May 2020, the subsidy will be 85 per cent (increased from 75 per cent) for employees with a previous average take-home pay below €412 per week. Therefore, TWSS will result in fewer employees on PUP than otherwise would have been the case, potentially making the transition back to employment easier for some. Finally, there are fears among academics and policymakers that the Covid-19 crisis could exacerbate inequalities in health and wages.10 The evidence on the impact of minimum wages on inequality is particularly relevant at this time. Redmond et al. (2020) have shown that the 2016 increase in the Irish minimum wage was 8 See comments from the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohue, on 22 April 2020. https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0422/1133037-esri-on-bleak-economic-forecasts/ 9 Including Dunnes, Aldi and Tesco. See https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0330/1127359-dunnes-stores-covidpremium-payment/ 10 See for example the recent interview with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, https://www.investopedia.com/nobelwinner-joseph-stiglitz-on-income-inequality-after-covid-19-4843052 12 associated with a reduction in wage inequality, with the ratio of wages in the 90th and 10th percentiles falling by 8 per cent. Holton and O’Neill (2017) have shown that a minimum wage is particularly important during a recession; by preventing the wages of the lowest paid workers from falling below a certain level, wage inequality stays relatively low. Given that the Covid-19 crisis will result in an economic contraction, the minimum wage may be an important policy to counteract inequality. 5 CONCLUSION This paper provided an overview of minimum wage policy in Ireland over the past 20 years, along with an assessment of the recent evidence on the economic impacts of minimum wages, both internationally and specifically for Ireland. Drawing on this evidence base, the implications of the Covid-19 crisis on minimum wage employment in Ireland were discussed. Approximately 8 per cent of employees in Ireland are minimum wage workers. Compared to all employees, minimum wage employees are more likely to be women, younger, part-time and non-Irish nationals. There is a heavy concentration of minimum wage employees in the retail and accommodation and food sectors, with these two sectors alone accounting for half of all minimum wage employees. Given the widespread business closures recently experienced in these sectors due to the Covid-19 crisis, the lowest paid workers in the economy are likely to be heavily impacted by job losses. As the economy gradually reopens, some individuals will be able to return to work. However, tourism is unlikely to recover in the near term. In addition, hotels and restaurants may find it difficult to operate under social distancing requirements. This could lead to longer-term disruption in the accommodation and food sector, which employs a quarter of all minimum wage employees. The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) of €350 per week was introduced in response to job losses resulting from the Covid-19 crisis. Given that minimum wage employees generally work fewer hours, the PUP payment is 50 per cent higher than the gross weekly wage of the average minimum wage employee in the retail and accommodation and food sectors. The PUP payment was introduced as a temporary (12-week) emergency measure. Current indications are that it may be changed or tapered in the coming weeks. The recent evidence on the economic impacts of a minimum wage indicate that minimum wage increases in Ireland have not led to greater job losses among minimum wage employees, but were associated with a reduction in hours worked among some groups of workers. Minimum wage employment also appears to be a stepping-stone to higher pay for many workers. However, minimum wage employees are more likely to enter unemployment or inactivity compared to higher 13 paid workers. Recent minimum wage increases in Ireland were associated with reduced wage inequality. The key policy question over the next 12 months will be whether the minimum wage should be increased, be decreased or remain the same. During the last recession, the minimum wage was temporarily reduced in January 2011, with the decision being reversed after six months. This type of policy action may be discussed again in the coming months, and the existing evidence needs to be considered carefully before decisions are made. We know that increases in the minimum wage reduce wage inequality and that the presence of a minimum wage during the last recession helped to prevent wage inequality from increasing. Therefore, reducing the minimum wage could lead to higher wage inequality. The rationale for reducing the minimum wage would be to increase employment among low-paid workers. However, there is little evidence to show that minimum wage changes in Ireland affect employment. The evidence for Ireland typically examines the impact of minimum wage increases, which have occurred during times of economic growth, and therefore we do not know how employment reacts to a reduction in the minimum wage during a recession. However, internationally, there is no compelling evidence that minimum wage reductions may increase employment during a recession. These are issues that will need to be considered by the Low Pay Commission and policymakers in the coming months. 14 REFERENCES Addison, J., M. Blackburn, and C. Cotti (2013). ‘Minimum wage increases in a recessionary environment’, Labour Economics, Vol. 23, pp. 30–39. Aitken, A., P. Dolton, and R. Riley (2019). ‘The impact of the introduction of the National Living Wage on employment, hours and wages’, Discussion Paper 501, London: National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Bachmann, R. and H. Frings (2017). ‘Monopsonistic competition, low-wage labour markets, and minimum wages: an empirical analysis’, Applied Economics, Vol. 49, pp. 5268–5286. Beirne, K., K. Doorley, M. Regan, B. Roantree, and D. Tuda (2020). ‘The potential costs and distributional effect of Covid-19 related unemployment in Ireland’, Budget Perspectives 2021, Paper 1, Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute. Bergin, A., E. Kelly, and P. Redmond (2020). ‘The labor market in Ireland, 2000–2018’, IZA World of Labor, https://wol.iza.org/articles/the-labor-market-in-ireland/long Butcher, T., R. Dickens, and A. Manning (2012). ‘Minimum wages and wage inequality: some theory and an application to the UK’, Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No. 1177, London: LSE. Caliendo, M., A. Fedorets, M. Preuss, C. Schröder, and L. Wittbrodt (2018). ‘The short-run employment effects of the German minimum wage reform’, Labour Economics, Vol. 53, pp. 46–62. Cengiz, D., A. Dube, A. Lindner, and B. Zipperer (2019). ‘The effect of minimum wages on low-wage jobs’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 134, No. 3, pp. 1405–1454. Clemens, J. and M. Wither (2019). ‘The minimum wage and the Great Recession: evidence of effects on the employment and income trajectories of low-skilled workers’, Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 170, pp. 53–67. CSO (2019). ‘LFS national minimum wage estimates’, CSO Statistical Release, Dublin: Central Statistics Office. Dickens, R., R. Riley, and D. Wilkinson (2015). ‘A re-examination of the impact of the UK national minimum wage on employment’, Economica, Vol. 82, pp. 841–864. Dolado, J., F. Kramarz, S. Machin, A. Manning, D. Margolis, C. Teulings, G. Saint-Paul, and M. Keen (1996). ‘The economic impact of minimum wages in Europe’, Economic Policy, Vol. 11, No. 23, pp. 317–372. Dolton, P., C. R. Bondibene and M. Stops (2015). ‘Identifying the employment effect of invoking and changing the minimum wage: a spatial analysis of the UK’, Labour Economics, Vol. 37, pp. 54–76. Dube, A., L. Giuliano, and J. Leonard (2019). ‘Fairness and frictions: the impact of unequal raises on quit behavior’, American Economic Review, Vol. 109, No. 2, pp. 620– 663. 15 Eurofound (2019). Minimum wages in 2019: Annual review, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Feliciano, Z.M. (1998). ‘Does the minimum wage affect employment in Mexico?’, Eastern Economic Journal, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 165–180. Harasztosi, P. and A. Lindner (2019). ‘Who pays for the minimum wage?’, American Economic Review, Vol. 109, No. 8, pp. 2693–2727. Holton, N. and D. O’Neill (2017). ‘The changing nature of Irish wage inequality from boom to bust’, Economic and Social Review, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 1–26. Jardim, E., M.C. Long, R. Plotnick, E. Van Inwegen, J. Vigdor, and H. Wething (2017). ‘Minimum wage increases, wages, and low-wage employment: evidence from Seattle’, Working Paper No. 23532, Cambridge. MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Kelly, E. and S. McGuinness (2017). ‘A study of sub-minimum wage rates for young people’, Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute. Low Pay Commission (2018). ‘Recommendations for the national minimum wage’, Dublin: Low Pay Commission. Maitre, B., S. McGuinness, and P. Redmond (2017). ‘A study of minimum wage employment in Ireland: the role of worker, household and job characteristics’, Dublin: Economic and Social Research Institute. Manning, A. (2003). Monopsony in motion: imperfect competition in labor markets, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. McGuinness, S. and P. Redmond (2019). ‘The impact of a minimum wage increase on temporary-contract workers’, Fiscal Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 149–173. McGuinness, S., P. Redmond, and J. Delaney (2019). The prevalence and effect on hours worked of the minimum wage in Ireland: a sectoral and regional analysis, Research Series No. 93, Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute. McGuinness, S., P. Redmond, and J. Delaney (2020). ‘Minimum wage noncompliance’, Applied Economics Letters, forthcoming. McQuinn, K., C. O’Toole, M. Allen-Coghlan, and C. Coffey (2020). ‘Quarterly economic commentary’, Macroeconomic Forecasting, Spring, Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute. Okudaira, H., M. Takizawa, and K. Yamanouchi (2019). ‘Minimum wage effects across heterogeneous markets’, Labour Economics, Vol. 59, pp. 110–122. O’Neill D. (2004). ‘Low pay and the minimum wage in Ireland’, in D. Meulders, R. Plasman, and F. Rycx (eds), Minimum wages, low pay and unemployment (pp. 3–26), Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. O’Neill, D., B. Nolan, and J. Williams (2006). ‘Evaluating the introduction of a National Minimum Wage: evidence from a new survey of firms in Ireland’, Labour: Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, Vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 63–90. 16 Redmond, P., K. Doorley and S. McGuinness (2020). ‘The impact of a minimum wage change on the distribution of wages and household income’, IZA Discussion Paper No. 12914, Bonn: IZA. Redmond, P. and S. McGuinness (2020). ‘The impact of the 2016 minimum wage increase on average labour costs, hours worked and employment in Irish firms’, Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute, forthcoming. Redmond, P., S. McGuinness, and B. Maitre (2018). ‘An examination of the labour market transitions of minimum wage workers in Ireland’, Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute. Schiller, B.R. (1994). ‘Moving up: the training and wage gains of minimum-wage entrants’, Social Science Quarterly, September, pp. 622–636. Smith, R. and B. Vavrichek (1992). ‘The wage mobility of minimum wage workers’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 82–88. UK Low Pay Commission (2019). ‘Non-compliance and Enforcement of the National Minimum Wage’, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/at tachment_data/file/797675/Noncompliance_and_enforcement_of_the_National_Minimum_Wage_WEB.pdf U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2019). ‘Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2018’, Report 1078, https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimumwage/2018/pdf/home.pdf Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2 Telephone +353 1 863 2000 Email [email protected] Web www.esri.ie Twitter @ESRIDublin