Minimum Wage and Health Equity: A Bay Area Health Impact Analysis

The health-in-all policies approach requires government agencies to consider health impacts of policy decisions. U.S. economic policy has contributed to wage stagnation and erosion among low-income workers. A large body of research on wage, income, and health demonstrates that public policy interventions that aim to increase the incomes of low-income populations could increase income equality and economic security as well as lower mortality rates, improve overall health status in the population, decrease health inequity, and lower overall healthcare costs. In 2014, several San Francisco Bay Area jurisdictions were considering policies to raise the minimum wage. To add the public health perspective to that dialogue, the Bay Area Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), a collaborative of 11 Bay Area public health departments, conducted a health impact assessment to examine the health impact of a region-wide minimum wage increase. An economic analysis demonstrated that implementing a Bay Area-wide minimum wage of $12.50 per hour would impact nearly one million Bay Area workers. The majority of these workers were found to be parents of childbearing age. Analysis of California survey data showed a relationship between health indicators and wage category, and health indicators and poverty among Bay Area residents. These findings suggest that a minimum wage increase would have a broad and positive impact on health for the region.