The Effect of New Jersey’s Minimum Wage Increase on Fast-food Employment: a Re-evaluation Using Payroll Records

Published August 1, 1995

In 1995, University of California-Irvine economics professor David Neumark and Federal Reserve governor William Wascher analyzed payroll records of fast-food restaurants in New Jersey counties and neighboring counties across the state line with Pennsylvania, seeking to determine what — if any — effect New Jersey’s 1994 minimum-wage increase had on entry-level employment trends.