MINIMUM WAGE EFFECTS ACROSS THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTORS IN BRAZIL

There is very limited evidence on the e.ects of the minimum wage in developing countries, and none whatsoever on the e.ects of the minimum wage on the public sector. Most of the evidence available uses (US) private sector data. However, evidence regarding the private sector need not carry over to the public sector. This paper estimates minimum wage e.ects across sectors using an under-explored monthly Brazilian household survey from 1982 to 2000. The minimum wage was found to compress the wage distribution of both sectors. However, consistent with a stronger compression e.ect, more adverse long run employment e.ects are observed in the private sector.