Efectos del salario mínimo sobre el empleo y la inflación: una revisión crítica de la evidencia

Resumen

The minimum wage is a widely debated labor policy due to its potential distributional and macroeconomic implications. The objective was to critically analyze its effects on employment and inflation by comparing international evidence and conducting a descriptive analysis of Colombia. The research adopted a documentary, non-experimental, and comparative design, based on scientific articles, official statistics, arithmetic replication of differences-in-differences, and a graphical synthesis of elasticities. The results showed that wage increases coexisted with labor market stability in various contexts, although adjustments were also identified in working hours, hiring, business composition, and vulnerable groups. In Colombia, Mexico, Germany, and the United States, the magnitude of the responses depended on the intensity of the increase, productivity, market structure, and indexation. The findings rule out universal generalizations and show that evaluating this policy requires consideration of the context, coverage, affected population, and methodological quality of each study.