A US$1 increase in the minimum wage is linked to a fall in the suicide rate of between 3.5 and 6% among people with high school education or less, reveals a 26-year study, published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
The effect seems to be strongest during periods of high unemployment, the findings indicate.
In 2017, there were more than 47,000 preventable suicide deaths in the USA, with suicides accounting for nearly one in five (19%) deaths among those aged 18-24. Between 1999 and 2017, suicide rates increased by more than 30% in half of US states.