"This study examines whether the low-skilled employment effects of minimum wage increases differ over the state business cycle. Controlling for spatial heterogeneity via state-specific productivity shocks to the low-skilled sector and state-specific non-linear time trends, the results suggest that minimum wage increases between 1989 and 2012 reduce low-skilled employment more during recessions than expansions. Estimated employment elasticities with respect to the minimum wage range from 0 to ?0.2 during state economic expansions, but reach as high as ?0.3 during troughs in the business cycle."

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