最低工資的分配效果

THE DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS OF MINIMUM WAGES

為改善工資成長低緩及所得差距擴大的問題，並保障勞工的購買能力，許多國家已藉由調高最低工資因應。本文建構一個包含高技術及低技術兩類家計單位的動態一般均衡模型，考慮在生產過程中資本與高低技術勞動具有不同之互補特性，並引入搜尋與媒合勞動市場，分析最低工資對分配及總體經濟的影響。結論顯示，提高最低工資可以增加低技術勞動工資，達到縮小高低技術勞動工資及勞動所得差距的目的。另一方面，在資本－技術不同互補性生產下，廠商以資本及高技術勞動來替代低技術勞動，進而推升資本報酬及高技術勞動的資本所得，造成高低技術的總所得差距擴大。總體經濟方面，提高最低工資能帶動低技術勞動的消費，但是資本替代低技術勞動所引起的高失業率，對總消費及產出產生不利影響。

In many countries, a minimum wage is an important tool to sustain workers' purchasing power and to deal with the problems of wage suppression and growing income gaps. This paper constructs a dynamic general equilibrium model featuring (i) two types of workers, skilled and unskilled, (ii) capital-skill complementarity, and (iii) search and matching in the labor market to examine the distributional and macroeconomic effects of minimum wages. It finds that a higher minimum wage increases the wage rates of unskilled workers, reducing wage and labor income gaps between skilled and unskilled workers. With a higher wage rate for unskilled workers, firms substitute capital for unskilled workers and increase demand for skilled workers under capital-skill complementarity. This drives up the returns to capital and increases capital income for skilled workers, increasing the overall income gap between skilled and unskilled workers. As for the macroeconomic effects, a higher minimum wage increases unskilled workers' consumption but decreases aggregate consumption and output, and is associated with a higher unemployment rate.