A $2 increase in America's minimum wage would have prevented 57,000 suicides in the 25 years examined by a new study
OF ALL THE tactics governments employ to raise living standards, few stir as much controversy as the minimum wage. Advocates claim that minimum wages help boost earnings in industries with too little competition, and prevent workers from being exploited. Critics maintain that, by setting an arbitrary floor on pay, minimum wages reduce overall employment, particularly among low-skilled workers.
Minimum wages may have life-saving effects. But they are no panacea. The authors point out that, even if American lawmakers had raised the minimum wage back in 1990, the country would still have suffered a sharp increase in suicides . There are several measures policymakers could take to reduce such “deaths of despair”, which killed 47,000 Americans in 2017.
There are no easy solutions to such a complicated problem. But reducing economic distress for America’s lowest-paid workers might be a good place to start.
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