Mobile-device location data and labor markets
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Hitanshu Pandit (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Martin Andersen
Abstract: The last decade has seen noteworthy local policy decisions, especially a trend in the decentralization of wage determination. Considering that local policy changes are aimed at the local areas where boundaries are porous, there is a need for analyses that incorporate detailed and accurate geographic and time information. Using establishment locations and mobile-device location data, this study explores how the labor market responds to local minimum wage ordinances. First, I use a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of changes in the minimum wage on the duration of visits at a location, which can be used as a proxy for employment. I find a decrease in employment by 4.5% when there is a 10% increase in the minimum wage and an increase in distance traveled from home by 1.5% when there is an increase in the minimum wage by 10%. The study further demonstrates that the local labor market, especially in the non-tradeable sector, is more responsive to changes in the local minimum wage than the state-bound minimum wage changes. The prior literature shows no negative relationship between minimum wage and employment in the U.S. restaurant industry. The argument hinges on the use of the contiguous region to study the minimum wage variation by controlling for economic shock which might be correlated with the minimum wage changes. Secondly, I use mobile-device location data to study cross-area movement for local areas when local minimum wage changes. I use the spatial and temporal variation across the U.S. to assess the impact of local minimum wage changes on cross-area commuting patterns. I find that when minimum wages at home increase by 10% the visits at the destination decrease from 2% to 3% with a variation depending on the distance between the home Census Block Group(CBG) and the destination CBG. Though the number of visitors decreases as the distance between CBGs increases, the visitor increases by 12% more at the CBG which observes an increase in minimum wages.
Mobile-device location data and labor markets
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Created on 8/1/2023
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2023
- Keywords
- Employment, Minimum Wages
- Subjects
- Employment (Economic theory)
- Labor market $z United States
- Minimum wage $z United States