Joachem Meh Bin, Francis Menjo Baye, Njong Mom Aloysius, Mark Wiykiynyuy Tangwa, Ebenezer Lemven Wirba.
Received: 24 September 2024 / Accepted: 17 January 2025
Published online: 21 August 2025
This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2025
The issue of minimum wage violation and labor supply is a major concern in many countries, including Cameroon. This paper investigates the dynamics of minimum wage violation and its effects on the labor supply using the 2005 and 2010 Cameroonian labor force surveys. Specifically, it assesses the incidence, depth and severity of minimum wage violation in the Cameroon labor market and evaluates the effects of minimum wage violation on labor supply in Cameroon between 2005 and 2010. To achieve these objectives, the violation class of indices and the Heckman two-step approach with a bivariate first step were used for analysis. The empirical results show that the dynamics of minimum wage violation are more prevalent, deeper and severer among rural (female) workers than among their urban (male) counterparts. The results also confirm an inverse relationship between minimum wage violation and labor supply in 2005, and a deeper disincentive effect on labor supply between 2005 and 2010. These findings suggest the need for a more comprehensive compliance-enhancing strategy that targets disadvantaged groups such as rural dwellers and women.
