HIGH-SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, MINIMUM-WAGES AND EDUCATION SPENDING

The impact on high school enrollment of minimum wages and different ty pes of education spending is examined empirically using Canadian provi ncial-level data. Increases in the minimum wage are shown to have a si gnificant negative effect on the enrollment rates of 16- and 17-year-o ld males and 17-year-old females. The empirical estimates imply that a 50 cent increase in the hourly minimum wage causes a 0.7 percentage p oint fall in the percent of 16- and 17-year-olds enrolled in school (a decline that, in Ontario, would amount to more than 1,700 students). The results also indicate that lower student-teacher ratios, better pa id teachers, more administrative spending, increased spending on instr uctional supplies, and increases in other school board operating expen ditures do not have a systematic effect on enrollment rates.