Corporate Minimum Wages and Working Poverty

Starting in 2014, many large retail employers adopted voluntary corporate minimum wages. These minimums provided a wage floor affecting millions of workers. Novel employer-linked household panel data allow us to study how these employer wage-setting decisions affect working poverty. Minimums reduce poverty rates in adopting firms by 30% to 50%, relative to workers in similar jobs, labor markets and competitor employers. Minimums also narrow black/white, college/non-college, regional, and gender wage gaps within firms. Poverty reduction is not explained by shifting worker selection, pre-trends, or offsetting decreases in hours or health insurance. However, adopters employ more college-educated workers and intensify work.