TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An increase in minimum wage will not negatively impact employment and commodity prices, Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor (MOL) said on Wednesday (Oct. 13), citing a Nobel laureate’s research conclusions.

The MOL’s Minimum Wage Review Committee decided last week to raise the monthly minimum wage to NT$25,250 (US$871) and the minimum hourly wage to NT$168 for next year, prompting many legislators to ask Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) at a legislative hearing on Wednesday about whether the wage increase will have a negative impact on employment, CNA reported.

Citing research by David Card, who recently was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on how minimum wage, immigration, and education affect the labor market, Hsu said that an increase in minimum wage will not reduce hiring.

According to the minister, past researches indicate that an increase in the minimum wage may reduce employment opportunities, but Card’s empirical research shows that it will not result in a decrease in employment, which was corroborated by the MOL’s previous annual researches.

Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said that the MOL conducts at least one research project every year regarding upward adjustments to minimum wage and their impact on employment, and the results have consistently shown that there has been no impact on hiring and very little impact on commodity prices, per CNA.