When people think about minimum wage, they most often think about the impact on their bank account and their job. But policies that impact employment and income are actually about health – the health of individuals, families and communities.
When 19th-century industrialization drove workers from farms and home workshops into urban areas and factory work, our economic system changed dramatically. This change was particularly devastating for poor families and children. Working conditions were unregulated and often unsafe, leading to tens of thousands of work-related deaths. Millions of children were forced to work long hours in hazardous conditions at low wages because their poor families desperately needed the income to supplement the parents’ low wages. Factory owners benefited from child labor because children were more manageable, cheaper and less likely to strike. The reality for children was poor health and loss of educational opportunities.
New laws cut fatalities, improved health
These horrid conditions persisted for decades until progressive 20th-century laws restricted child labor, improved working conditions, and established a minimum wage. These laws significantly reduced fatalities and improved overall health. Families at the lower end of the socio-economic scale benefited the most. Low-income communities saw improvements in life expectancy and lifetime earning capacity.
Even though sweatshops and child labor are no longer part of our domestic economy, how we work and what we earn continues to impact our health and that of our communities. Studies show that income is the strongest and most consistent predictor of health and disease. People with higher incomes are healthier and live longer than people with lower incomes. Lower incomes are consistently associated with higher rates of disabilities and chronic physical and mental conditions.
Poverty also leads to faster disease progression, more complications, and poorer survival rates. The vast majority of diseases are much more common among the poor and near-poor at all ages. Data from one recent Minnesota study showed those making less than $20,000 a year were more than twice as likely to have diabetes compared to those making $75,000 or more a year.
Especially vulnerable: children
Children are particularly vulnerable to the health impacts of poverty, and the more years a child spends in poverty, the more negative outcomes accrue. Poor children are more likely to experience injuries, violence, inadequate health care, poor nutrition, and insecure housing. These conditions have a powerfully negative effect on health and development. Children from poor families are less likely to live in a neighborhood with healthy food options, safe places to play, good schools, libraries, or other quality public services that help set them on the path to a successful, healthy life.
The relationship between health and income is not just about individual access to medical care, but how income affects a range of opportunities for health. Communities of residents with higher incomes are likely to have better recreational amenities, housing stock, food access, and schools, and tend to be safer – all of which impact health. Income is also associated with other factors that create the opportunity to be healthy, such as employment opportunities, reduced environmental contamination, and greater transportation options.
Health improves with increasing income, and the impacts of a rise in income are greatest for those at the lowest end of the wage scale. Moving from the lowest income level to the next lowest provides the largest percentage increase in life expectancy and health status. In other words, a family living on minimum wage realizes greater health benefits from an increase in salary than a middle-class family receiving the same raise.
A sound investment
Increasing the minimum wage is a sound public health investment for Minnesota, as the health of our lowest wage earners will improve along with that of their families and communities.
We all benefit from and have a role in creating healthier communities. It’s time for us to come together to implement a minimum wage that further enhances the health benefits of employment and lifts more than 350,000 Minnesotans out of poverty. As Minnesota’s health commissioner and as a physician, I prescribe an increase in the minimum wage to improve the lives and health of vulnerable children and families. It will be a great investment in the health of individuals, families, communities, and our state.
Edward P. Ehlinger, MD, MSPH, is the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health.
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Very Wise Words
and a very helpful historical perspective.
Thank you.
As has already been said, “We all do better when we ALL do better.”
Question?
Are taxes and inflation public health issues as well?
Answer!
Alright Ron – I’ll bite. Are taxes a public health issue? Well yes if inadequate levels of tax support lead to reduced resources to maintain adequate nutritional support for mother’s and families in need. Yes if inadequate tax revenues are a reason for inadequate funding of preventative and proactive public health measures. No they aren’t a public health issue if you’re implying that taxes on the wealthy are somehow adversely impacting their health.
How about inflation? Well yes to the extent that increased costs impair peoples ability to provide adequate nutrition for themselves and their families. Yes, if inflation drives up health care and other costs and generally impacts the overall well being of the society. I assume you’re implying increasing the minimum wage will drive up inflation. Frankly I think that is a pretty simplistic view and one that just isn’t borne out by the evidence.
“I prescribe an increase in the minimum wage “
Thanks Colin for your answer.
Did you notice the good Dr. was freely handing out prescriptions without giving the dosage?
Is that malpractice?
Also – he is refusing to give the side effects of his prescription. Of course – whatever the side effects – he probably will be more than willing to continue the writing of more big government prescriptions to counteract the side effects of original prescription.
We all know what he is really doing is trying to cover the symptoms of the real problem. No cure is offered other than more and more government medicine.
I would also …..
suggest that the achievment gap is also a public health issue !