基本工資的調整常獲得社會許多關注，一般存在兩種不同的意見：一方擔心調整基本工資會使得經濟下滑、物價上漲、中小企業倒閉或緊縮減少人力、失業率提高等狀況，反而使弱勢者失去工作；另一方卻認為不會單單因基本工資調整就影響如此大，但也未阻止基本工資調整。然而台灣歷經連續5年基本工資的調漲，失業率維持相對穩定，並未因此上升。
本研究利用difference-in-differences估計法，探討基本工資調漲對工時的影響。藉由政府不定期的調整基本工資，形成自然實驗，以檢驗基本薪資與勞動供給的影響關係。實證結果顯示基本工資的調漲在不同低薪族群中效果各有不同。
The issues on the basic wage have continued to receive the attention of researchers and policy makers. In general, there are two different views regarding the consequences of raising the basic wage. One view believes that an increase in the basic wage will result in higher labor costs and higher unemployment rates. The latter in turns hurts the disadvantaged workers. The other view believes that the economic effect of raising the basic wage is negligible. In fact, during the past five consecutive years of rising basic wages, Taiwan has not experienced higher unemployment rates.
The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of raising the basic wage upon the working hours among the low-income workers by employing the difference-in-differences estimation method. Our empirical results show that raising the basic wage has an ambiguous effect on the working hours among the low-income workers.
