Research paper examining the effects of the minimum wage on youth employment and youth unemployment in Ontario, Canada - based on an economic model, finds that changes in minimum wage rates have a marked effect on labour force participation by men young workers, but a lesser effect on young woman workers; indicates that the effect on unemployment is negligible. Bibliography, statistical tables.

Report on the relationship of minimum wage levels and the youth unemployment problem in the USA - covers wages differentials, the distribution of young workers of the 16 to 19 year-old age group in the occupational structure, military service, recruitment standards, job requirements, full time education for students and learner certification programmes, etc., and comments on the effect of national level and local level labour legislation. Statistical tables.

Reviews the main theoretical models and recent empirical evidence on the correlation between the minimum wage and youth employment.

Policymakers often propose a minimum wage as a means of raising incomes and lifting workers out of poverty. However, improvements in some young workers' incomes as a result of a minimum wage come at a cost to others. Minimum wages reduce employment opportunities for youths and create unemployment. Workers miss out on on-the-job training opportunities that would have been paid for by reduced wages upfront but would have resulted in higher wages later. Youths who cannot find jobs must be supported by their families or by the social welfare system. Delayed entry into the labor market reduces the lifetime income stream of young unskilled workers.