← Research PEER-REVIEWED · 2023

The Minimum Wage, Self-Employment, and the Online Gig Economy

Benjamin Glasner

Journal of Labor Economics, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 103–127

Summary

This paper studies how minimum-wage increases affect work arrangements that minimum-wage law does not cover, including self-employment and gig work. In the early 2000s, minimum-wage increases led to modest declines in traditional self-employment. After the online gig economy emerged in the 2010s, the relationship flipped: a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage increased the number of nonemployer establishments in transportation and warehousing by about 2.7 percent, an effect concentrated in counties with less concentrated labor markets and active ride-hailing platforms.

A plain-language summary written for this site, not the authors' published abstract. See the published version for the original.

Cite this

Benjamin Glasner. 2023. “The Minimum Wage, Self-Employment, and the Online Gig Economy.” Journal of Labor Economics 41(1): 103–127. https://doi.org/10.1086/719690.

BibTeX

@article{glasner2023minimumwage_gig,
  title = {The Minimum Wage, Self-Employment, and the Online Gig Economy},
  author = {Glasner, Benjamin},
  journal = {Journal of Labor Economics},
  year = {2023},
  volume = {41},
  number = {1},
  pages = {103--127},
  doi = {10.1086/719690},
  publisher = {The University of Chicago}
}