Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Understanding the impact of minimum wages on earnings over the life-cycle is an important component of understanding the comprehensive impact of minimum wages. Yet, little evidence on long-run effects further than five years exists, due mostly to the lack of longitudinal data on individual earnings over a longer time span. This paper fills in this gap by using a unique longitudinal dataset of individuals from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) linked with earnings data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). We use this data to study earnings many years after exposure to minimum wage increases. We find that exposure to minimum wage increases are associated with higher earnings as many as 15 years later compared to similar low-wage workers who were not exposed to minimum wage increases.