How Raising The Minimum Wage Can Be a Win for Mental Health

More than 200 members of Congress have cosponsored a bill that would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025.

If passed, the bill would potentially lift 900,000 people out of poverty and increase wages for at least 17 million workers, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study released earlier this month.

But what that report doesn’t mention is another potential benefit of boosting the minimum wage: Saving lives.

It’s just one of many mental health benefits that could come from a mandate for companies to provide a more livable wage to some of the lowest-paid workers in the country.

Suicide rates drop

Raising the minimum wage could help ease some of the financial strain many people face in the United States, and ultimately reduce their risk of suicide.

The study found that a $1 increase in the minimum wage could bring down the suicide rate of working-age adults with no more than a high school education by 3.4 to 5.9 percent, with the biggest gains coming during times of high unemployment.

Mental health improves

Raising the minimum wage could also lead to less stress and substantial improvements in mental health, which would not only have the potential to further reduce suicide rates, but also be a benefit in their own right.

“When you don’t know where your next meal is coming from and you have to worry about paying the bill, that certainly increases stress and stress is associated with mental illness,” said Cynthia Fontanella, PhD, associate professor of clinical psychiatry at The Ohio State University.

A 2018 literature review found an association between minimum wage increases and better mental and overall health in 3 of 4 high quality studies.

What’s more, a 2011 study from JAMA Psychiatry found that people in the United States with an annual household income below $20,000 were more likely to have mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, compared with those making $70,000 or more.

While more research is needed to determine whether increasing income could reduce mental health conditions over the long term, the report noted that it was a possible outcome.

“Our study documented very clearly that living in those difficult environments really increases stress on a person and increases their likelihood of mental health difficulties,” he added.

Improvements in mental health due to less financial stress may also have a positive effect on everyone within that household, and provide lifelong benefits to children.

Strengthening household financial security is listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as one of the top strategies to preventing traumatic childhood experiences, which can lead to struggles with money, employment, and depression throughout kids’ lives.

“The add-on effects of increasing the minimum wage for families could be substantial,” Dunn said. “I would predict that it would lead to a significant reduction in anxiety disorders among children and adolescents living in poverty. Not everything would be perfect, but there’s such a potential for ripple effects for the whole family.”

Making the case for mental health

While research has shown the potential for higher incomes to reduce suicide rates and improve mental health outcomes, the reality may be a bit more complicated.

And if the wages of low-income workers fail to keep up with the rising costs of living, we could see inflation chip away at any would-be gains in mental health.

What is clear, though, is that the growing body of research on the link between income and mental health deserves more discussion among policymakers in the debate on a $15 federal minimum wage, especially as the pandemic continues to tax people’s well-being.

“Policymakers may not be aware of these important issues, but it’s been shown repeatedly by scientists that people with poor socioeconomic status have a higher rate of mental health difficulties,” Sareen said. “I’m not clear why it’s not a major discussion in the U.S.”

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