Effects of increased minimum wages by unemployment rate on suicide in the USA

Abstract

BackgroundSocial welfare policies such as the minimum wage can affect population health, though the impact may differ by the level of unemployment experienced by society at a given time.MethodsWe ran difference-in-differences models using monthly data from all 50 states and Washington, DC from 1990 to 2015. We used educational attainment to define treatment and control groups. The exposure was the difference between state and federal minimum wage in US$2015, defined both by the date the state law became effective and lagged by 1 year. Models included state and year fixed effects, and additional state-level covariates to account for state-specific time-varying confounding. We assessed effect modification by the state-level unemployment rate, and estimated predicted suicide counts under different minimum wage scenarios.ResultsThe effect of a US$1 increase in the minimum wage ranged from a 3.4% decrease (95% CI 0.4 to 6.4) to a 5.9% decrease (95% CI 1.4 to 10.2) in the suicide rate among adults aged 18–64 years with a high school education or less. We detected significant effect modification by unemployment rate, with the largest effects of minimum wage on reducing suicides observed at higher unemployment levels.ConclusionMinimum wage increases appear to reduce the suicide rate among those with a high school education or less, and may reduce disparities between socioeconomic groups. Effects appear greatest during periods of high unemployment.

Envisioning the future of work to safeguard the safety, health, and well‐being of the workforce: A perspective from the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

“…For instance, lack of job opportunities and an increase in hopelessness and despair have been implicated in the marked increase in mortality among middle‐aged, white Americans 181 ; an increased risk of depression among young people 182 and adults 180 ; and an increased likelihood of health problems among African Americans 182 . Depression rates in the United States have been shown to be higher among non‐Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics, who are more likely to be in lower‐wage (lower‐skilled) jobs 183 . Conversely, employability—the ability of a person to find and maintain employment, measured by proxies such as the skills of the worker—has been demonstrated to substantially moderate the effects of unemployment and job insecurity on life satisfaction and mental health 184 .…”

Minimum wage policy protects against suicide in the USA

“…A novel contribution of this work by Kaufman et al concerns modification of the relationship between the minimum wage and suicide by the unemployment rate 1. Research generally supports that minimum wage increases do not adversely affect employment,4 6 and this work highlights that minimum wage may be particularly important as a protective factor under conditions of higher unemployment.…”

“…Kaufman and colleagues have considered the relationship between minimum wage and suicide mortality in the USA 1. Overall, they found that a dollar increase in the minimum wage was related to a meaningful 3.4% decrease in suicide mortality for those of lower educational attainment.…”

“…Dow et al uses a difference in differences approach that compares across states with different minimum wages within the same year and examines the more educated group (that would not be expected to respond to changes in the minimum wage) as a placebo test 3. Kaufman e t al similarly leverages a difference in differences approach, but directly compares the lower education treated group to a more educated group as the control 1. In both of these analyses that examine effects in the lower education group, the minimum wage effects are stronger than those observed by Gertner et al in the total population (as would be expected) and notably similar to each other, in the range of a 3%–4% reduction in suicide for a dollar increase in the minimum wage.…”

A Strategic Plan for Strengthening America’s Families: A Brief from the Coalition of Behavioral Science Organizations

“…Specifically, adult women who became pregnant and experienced an increase in the minimum wage had a reduced likelihood of smoking and fewer low birth weight babies. Increases in state-level minimum wages are associated with decreased infant mortality, suicide rates, and heart disease death rates (Kaufman et al 2020;Komro et al 2016;Van Dyke, Komro, Shah et al 2018).…”