Higher state minimum wage tied to lower suicide rates

Suicide rates grow more slowly in states that increase their minimum wage, according to a U.S. study that suggests this might be one strategy for curbing deaths by suicide.

Although a small proportion of the population works for minimum wage, people living in low-income households have a higher risk of suicide than more affluent people, researchers note in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Raising the minimum wage has been linked to a number of positive outcomes for low-income Americans including higher odds of graduating high school and lower odds of having unmet medical needs.

For the current study, researchers examined data on suicide rates and minimum wages in all 50 U.S. states from 2006 to 2016. Over this period, there were approximately 432,000 deaths by suicide.

The minimum wage averaged $8.00 an hour during the study, although it changed at some point over the decade in all 50 states.

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