This paper investigates the impact of minimum wages on employment and wages in Indonesian manufacturing firms between 1993 and 2006. It shows that within firms, the employment effects of minimum wage hikes is negative. It finds significant, negative employment effects of minimum wages among small firms and for non-production, less-educated and female workers. The paper also finds that minimum wages are more correlated with small firms' average wages than large firms', suggesting that minimum wages are more binding in small firms.Jel codes: J08, J16, J20, J31, L60

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

In this paper, we present highly disaggregated estimates of expenditure-based poverty in Fiji using data from the 2007 national census and [2008][2009] Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Predicted poverty is estimated at provincial and tikina levels. Poverty in Fiji is marked by considerable spatial heterogeneity that cannot be gauged by the division level household survey estimates revealing pockets of poverty even within relatively well-off regions. Predicted poverty is highest in Cakaudrove province in Northern Division. Most strikingly, we find that 50% of all the poor in Fiji are concentrated in just 6 out of 85 tikinas, namely Suva, Labasa, Ba, Naitasiri, Vuda and Nadi. This finding has important implications for efficiency of targeted poverty alleviation programmes. We also focus on squatter settlements for which poverty headcount estimates using the Household Income and Expenditure Survey are not feasible. We find these settlements have rates of poverty headcount ratio that range from 38-55% depending on the Division the squatter settlement is located in; this range is significantly higher compared with the average urban poverty estimated at 26% and raises important social policy issues for addressing urban poverty.