Abstract

BackgroundThe minimum wage creates both winners (through wage increases) and—potentially—losers (through job losses). Research on the health effects of minimum wage policies has been sparse, particularly across gender and among racial/ethnic minorities. We test the impact of minimum wage increases on health outcomes, health behaviors and access to healthcare across gender and race/ethnicity.MethodsUsing 1993–2014 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, variables for access to healthcare (insurance coverage, missed care due to cost), health behavior (exercise, fruit, vegetable and alcohol consumption) and health outcomes (self-reported fair/poor health, hypertension, poor physical health days, poor mental health days, unhealthy days) were regressed on the product of the ratio of the 1-year lagged minimum wage to the state median wage and the national median wage, using Linear Probability Models and Poisson Regression Models for dichotomous and count outcomes, respectively. Regressions (total population, gender-stratified, race/ethnicity stratified (white, black, Latino), gender/race/ethnicity stratified and total population with interaction terms for race/ethnicity/gender) controlled for state-level ecologic variables, individual-level demographics and fixed-effects (state and year). Results were adjusted for complex survey design and Bonferroni corrections were applied to p-values such that the level of statistical significance for a given outcome category was 0.05 divided by the number of outcomes in that category.ResultsMinimum wage increases were positively associated with access to care among white men, black women and Latino women but negatively associated with access to care among white women and black men. With respect to dietary quality, minimum wage increases were associated with improvements, mixed results and negative impacts among white, Latino and black men, respectively. With respect to health outcomes, minimum wage increases were associated with positive, negative and mixed impacts among white women, white men and Latino men, respectively.ConclusionsWhile there is enthusiasm for minimum wage increases in the public health community, such increases may have to be paired with deliberate strategies to protect workers that might be vulnerable to economic dislocation. Such strategies may include more robust unemployment insurance or increased access to job training for displaced workers.

Highlights

  • The minimum wage creates both winners and—potentially—losers

  • Results for Latinos (Total Population & across Gender) In stratified models of the total Latino population (Table 6), minimum wage increases were positively associated with fruit intake (β = 1.10; 95% CI =1.01 to 1.21), poor physical health days (β = 1.15; 95% CI =1.02 to 1.30) and unhealthy days (β = 1.14; 95% CI =1.00 to 1.30)

  • Among Latino men, minimum wage increases were associated with reduced reports of no health insurance (β = −.03; 95% CI = -.06 to −.00) as well as increased fruit consumption (β = 1.10; 95% CI =1.01 to 1.21) and reports of poor physical health days (β = 1.19; 95% CI =1.00 to 1.41)

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Summary

Introduction

The minimum wage creates both winners (through wage increases) and—potentially—losers (through job losses). Research on the health effects of minimum wage policies has been sparse, across gender and among racial/ethnic minorities. We test the impact of minimum wage increases on health outcomes, health behaviors and access to healthcare across gender and race/ethnicity. Studies suggest that minimum wage impacts income in two different ways: increasing wages for employed low-wage workers and potentially reducing employment. It appears that the net effects are small [2,3,4,5]. The relationship between minimum wage and health may be even more complex given that there may be differential income effects depending on gender, race and ethnicity. Differential labor-market outcomes may result in differential health impacts across gender/racial/ethnic groups that are masked when looking at average effects

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