Looking at the structure of employment, it is striking that the increase in the number of people in work liable to social insurance is still strong (up 1.7% in May on a year earlier), but that other forms of employment are broadly down on a year earlier. In particular, the number of people in low-wage jobs has fallen substantially. Initial Federal Labor Agency calculations show that the May figure was 197,000 (-3.9%) down on a year earlier. The agency points out that the drop occurred largely at the beginning of the year. This suggests that the development was to a large extent due to the introduction of the minimum wage. As encouraging as it is that employment liable to social insurance is still growing strongly, it is also plain to see that the introduction of the minimum wage has exerted an appreciable drag on overall job growth.