Advocates of a higher minimum wage often argue that doing so will not only raise the economic welfare of recipients, but will provide health benefits too.  It’s an outcome that new research from the University of Washington suggests is far from guaranteed.

The research set out to garner some hard and fast evidence on the impact raising the minimum wage had on recipients, especially in terms of their health outcomes.  The researchers looked at over 130,000 adults who had provided data to the National Health Interview Survey between 2008 and 2015.  All of the subjects were of working age and were either in work or unemployed but looking for work.

“We found that an increase in minimum wage really didn’t have a huge impact on health overall, which surprised us,” the researchers say. “We did see, when we looked at subgroups, some mixed health effects there, however.”

Minimum gains

For instance, the data suggests that an increase in the minimum wage is associated with a greater likelihood of suffering from obesity among working age people of color.  This was counterbalanced with a reduced likelihood of hypertension in men, but a higher likelihood in women.

“These mixed results shine a spotlight on segments of the population that need to be studied in relation to rising minimum wages in order to learn how best to achieve the goal of reducing inequality with adjustments to the minimum wage,” the researchers explain.

In total, the researchers looked at several distinct health outcomes, including obesity, diabetes, psychological distress and general health and wellbeing.  To try and hone in purely on those affected by minimum wage changes, they focused on people with less formal education, as a proxy for those most likely to earn minimum wage.  This cohort were then compared with people with a more formal education.

The researchers believe that the link between the higher minimum wage and poorer health outcomes may reflect how the policy affects different demographics differently.  They hope their findings will ensure further research is made into this apparent phenomenon to explore how the minimum wage changes affect health outcomes.

“When we are looking at a minimum-wage policy, or any policy for that matter, we should be looking at the effect overall, but we should also consider how it is affecting different groups. And, if there is evidence that minimum wage or any policy is affecting groups differently, that’s something to hone in on for further investigation,” the researchers say.

They believe that this further analysis could provide the evidence to ensure that policies that appear to affect different groups in different ways, are not rolled out in a broadbrush way.

“Cities and counties are increasing minimum wages with very good intentions, which is to benefit lower-earning workers and reduce inequality, and yet we still need more research evidence on the effects of the minimum wage on health.” the researchers conclude. “In particular, we need to understand how it affects different types of workers differently.”