Minimum wage policy protects against suicide in the USA

Kaufman and colleagues have considered the relationship between minimum wage and suicide mortality in the USA.1 Overall, they found that a dollar increase in the minimum wage was related to a meaningful 3.4% decrease in suicide mortality for those of lower educational attainment. Interestingly, this is the third paper in recent months to address the question of how minimum wage affects suicide. Across these papers, there is a remarkable overall consistency of findings, and important subissues are highlighted in each individual paper.

The first of these papers, by Gertner and colleagues, found a 1.9% reduction in suicide associated with a dollar increase in the minimum wage across the total population.2 However, this research was unable to delve into the subgroup effects that would have allowed for a difference in differences approach, or placebo tests, due to their data source. First, Dow and colleagues,3 and then…

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