Regional evidence on the effect of the National Minimum Wage on the gender pay gap

Robinson H. (2005) Regional evidence on the effect of the National Minimum Wage on the gender pay gap, Regional Studies 39, 855-872. This paper provides evidence on employment rates and the extent of the change in the gender wage gap across regions around the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW). The variation in the proportions of low-paid workers across Britain provides a 'quasi' natural experiment with which to try and measure the effect of the introduction of the NMW. All things being equal, if women are over-represented amongst the low paid, and the proportion of low-paid workers varies across regions, one might expect to see the introduction of the NMW narrowing the overall gender pay gap by varying degrees across the country. Using difference-in-differences-type estimation on Labour Force Survey data, it is concluded that there is variation in the limited narrowing of the overall gender pay gap across regions, consistent with regional differences in the incidence and magnitude of low pay.