This paper performs a cross-country level analysis on the impact of the level of specific youth minimum wages on the labor market performance of young individuals. We use information on the use and level of youth minimum wages, as compared to the level of adult minimum wages as well as to the median wage (i.e., the Kaitz index). We complement these data with variables on the employment, labor force participation, and unemployment rates of 5-year age interval categories—all derived from the official OECD database. We distinguish between countries without minimum wages, countries with uniform minimum wages for all age groups, and countries with separate youth and adult minimum wages. Our results indicate that the relative employment rates of young individuals below the age of 25—as compared to the older workers—in countries with youth minimum wages are close to those in countries without minimum wages at all. Turning to the smaller sample of countries with minimum wages, increases in the level of (youth) minimum wages exert a substantial negative impact on the employment rate for young individuals.JEL Classification: J21, J23, J31

中文翻译：

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青年最低工资和青年就业

本文对特定青年最低工资水平对年轻人的劳动力市场绩效的影响进行了跨国分析。我们使用有关青年最低工资的使用和水平的信息，以及成年人最低工资水平和中位数工资（即凯兹指数）的信息。我们用就业，劳动力参与和5岁年龄段类别的失业率变量对这些数据进行补充，这些变量均来自经合组织官方数据库。我们对没有最低工资的国家，在所有年龄段均具有最低工资的国家，以及将青年和成人的最低工资分开的国家进行了区分。我们的结果表明，在具有青年最低工资的国家中，与年龄较大的工人相比，年龄在25岁以下的年轻人的相对就业率与根本没有最低工资的国家的相对就业率相近。转向较小的最低工资国家样本，（青年）最低工资水平的提高对年轻人的就业率产生了重大的负面影响.JEL分类：J21，J23，J31