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NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters Health) -- A new report suggests that, for some workers, a small hike in income could yield major health benefits. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, assessed the health benefits San Francisco city contract workers would gain if a proposed $11.00 per hour 'living wage' was enacted. Currently, these workers make an average of $8.66 per hour. The term living wage refers to a wage that meets all basic sustenance requirements, including housing, food, child care and clothes, but does not include 'extras' like going to the movies or eating out in restaurants, study co-author Dr. Rajiv Bhatia explained in an interview with Reuters Health. Bhatia and his colleague Dr. Mitchell Katz estimated how the wage hike, if given to a full-time worker, would affect the health of the worker and his or her family. They set the family's pre-wage hike income at $20,000 per year. 'This is an applied epidemiological study looking at what is known about income and health--that people who earn more money tend to have better health outcomes--and apply the findings to public policy,' Bhatia explained.
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'Improvements in subjectively rated health and reductions in the number of days sick in bed, in limitations of work and activities of daily living, and in depressive symptoms were also predicted, as were increases in daily alcohol consumption,' they note. The raise would also help workers' children, the report indicates. For instance, the study predicts a 34% increase in the odds that the children will complete high school and a 22% reduction in the number of teen pregnancies. 'Our analysis demonstrates that a modest gain in income resulting from a living wage would be associated with substantial health benefits,' Bhatia and Katz report. The line is often whether or not the county or business can afford the higher wage, but employers should take into account the fact that such wage increases can have major health benefits for workers and their children, Bhatia concluded. SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health 2001;91:1398-1402.
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