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001 pwiiw7540
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040 _cOSt
041 _aeng
084 _aJ38
_aD22
_2jelc
100 1 _aJovanović, Branimir
245 1 0 _aHow firms respond to minimum wage increases: Evidence from North Macedonia
260 _aWien :
_bWiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche (wiiw),
_c2026.
300 _a29 S.,
_b6 Tables and 6 Figures,
_c30cm.
490 1 _awiiw Working Papers
_v272
520 _aWe study the effects of North Macedonia’s 2017 minimum wage reform – the largest in the country’s history – using matched employer-employee administrative data covering the entire range of firms and employees, and a difference-in-differences design based on firms’ pre-reform share of minimum wage workers. We examine changes in firm employment, wage levels, profitability, non-wage operating expenditures and productivity after the reform. Five results emerge. (i) We find no evidence of job losses, with employment increasing overall, and smaller increases for firms that were more sensitive to the minimum wage increase. (ii) Wages higher than the minimum increased on a widespread basis, with no difference between firms attributable to their relative exposure to the minimum wage increase. (iii) Profitability remained broadly unchanged, with no differences related to the minimum wage. (iv) Firms that were more sensitive to the minimum wage increase reduced non-wage operating costs to a greater extent. (v) Productivity rose, on average, with larger gains among more exposed firms. Overall, the evidence suggests that firms accommodated the higher minimum wage primarily through cuts in other operating expenses and productivity improvements, rather than through layoffs or profit compression, consistent with non-fully competitive wage-setting in a low labour-share economy. These results can serve as a useful benchmark for designing future minimum wage increases in economies with similar features.
650 _aminimum wages
650 _afirm-level performance
650 _aproductivity
650 _aNorth Macedonia
650 _alabour share
651 _aNorth Macedonia
690 _aMacroeconomic Analysis and Policy
690 _aLabour, Migration and Income Distribution
700 1 _aStojkoski, Viktor
700 1 _aTevdovski, Dragan
700 1 _aTrpkova-Nestorovska, Marija
830 0 _v272
_w7703
_twiiw Working Papers
856 4 0 _uhttps://wiiw.ac.at/p-7540.html
942 _cP
999 _c9159
_d9159