January 2020

IZA DP No. 12884: Minimum Wage Non-Compliance: Evidence from Ireland

published as 'Minimum Wage Non-Compliance' in: Applied Economics Letters, 2020, 27 (20), 1663 - 1666

We use a unique question from the Irish Labour Force Survey that captures the reasons for workers being paid below the minimum wage. Compared to existing work, this allows us to more precisely identify sub-minimum wage workers. We find that 5.6 percent of minimum wage workers are paid below the minimum wage for reasons other than those permitted under legislation. This is considerably lower than estimates reported in the existing literature.