研究顯示，將最低工資提高1美元可能會防止數(shù)千人自殺

研究顯示，將最低工資提高1美元可能會防止數(shù)千人自殺

A new study suggests that raising the minimum wage might lower the suicide rate — especially when unemployment is high — and that doing so might have saved tens of thousands of people from dying by suicide in the last quarter century.

一項(xiàng)新的研究表明，提高最低工資可能會降低自殺率——尤其是在失業(yè)率高企的情況下——這樣做可能會在過去25年里挽救成千上萬的人免于自殺。

The minimum federal minimum wage is $7.25. though many states have set it higher. Between 1990 and 2015. raising the minimum wage by $1 in each state might have saved more than 27.000 lives, according to a report published this week in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. An increase of $2 in each state's minimum wage could have prevented more than 57.000 suicides.

聯(lián)邦最低工資是7.25美元，盡管許多州已經(jīng)將其定得更高?！读餍胁W(xué)與社區(qū)衛(wèi)生雜志》(本周發(fā)表的一份報(bào)告顯示，從1990年到2015年，每個州提高1美元的最低工資，可能已經(jīng)挽救了2.7萬多人的生命。每個州增加2美元的最低工資就可以避免超過57000人自殺。

"This is a way that you can, it seems, improve the well-being of people working at lower-wage jobs and their dependents," says John Kaufman, the lead author on the study and an epidemiology doctoral student at Emory University.

這項(xiàng)研究的主要作者、埃默里大學(xué)流行病學(xué)博士生約翰·考夫曼說：“似乎這是一種可以改善從事低薪工作的人及其家屬的福祉的方法。”

Crucially, researchers found that raising the minimum wage appears to reduce the suicide rate more when it's harder to find a job. In bad times, the same $1 increase could save more people than it might during good times.

至關(guān)重要的是，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，尤其是當(dāng)人們更難找到工作的時候，提高最低工資似乎更能降低自殺率。在經(jīng)濟(jì)不景氣時，同樣的1美元的增長可以比經(jīng)濟(jì)景氣時挽救更多的人。

"The higher unemployment is, the stronger that potential protective effect appears to be," says Kaufman.

“失業(yè)率越高，潛在的保護(hù)作用就越強(qiáng)，”考夫曼說。

The researchers found that 26.000 deaths could have been prevented following the 2009 peak in unemployment during the last recession had the minimum wage been $2 higher.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果最低工資提高2美元，那么在上一次經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退期間，2009年失業(yè)率達(dá)到峰值之后，本可以避免26.000人的死亡。

The report focused on less-educated adults because that group is more likely to earn the minimum wage. That group is also at a higher risk of depression and suicide, says Kaufman. Raising the minimum wage did not seem to affect whether college graduates would die by suicide.

這份報(bào)告主要針對受教育程度較低的成年人，因?yàn)樗麄兏锌赡塬@得最低工資?？挤蚵f，這些人患抑郁癥和自殺的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)也更高。提高最低工資似乎并不影響大學(xué)畢業(yè)生是否會自殺。

A number of other researchers are exploring the connections between the economy and our well-being. The study is the third in less than a year to show that raising the minimum wage may lower suicide rates, says Dr. Alexander Tsai, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital, who was not involved with the current research.

其他一些研究人員正在探索經(jīng)濟(jì)和我們的幸福之間的聯(lián)系。哈佛大學(xué)馬薩諸塞總醫(yī)院的精神病學(xué)副教授亞歷山大·蔡博士說，這項(xiàng)研究是不到一年內(nèi)第三次表明提高最低工資可能降低自殺率的研究，他沒有參與目前的研究。

A working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in April 2019 estimated that raising the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit by 10% each could prevent 1.230 people from dying by suicide each year.

國家經(jīng)濟(jì)研究局在2019年4月發(fā)布的一份工作報(bào)告估計(jì)，將最低工資和勞動所得稅抵免分別提高10%，每年可防止1230人自殺。

What's new about the study led by Kaufman, says Tsai, is its discovery that the wage hikes lower the suicide rates more when unemployment is high.

蔡教授說，由考夫曼領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的這項(xiàng)研究的新發(fā)現(xiàn)是，當(dāng)失業(yè)率高的時候，工資上漲更能降低自殺率。

Tsai also researches how economic opportunity affects health. He is a senior author on a study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, that found opioid overdoses increased by 85% in counties five years after an automotive plant closed.

蔡教授還研究了經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)會對健康的影響。他是發(fā)表在《美國醫(yī)學(xué)會雜志內(nèi)科學(xué)》上的一項(xiàng)研究的資深作者，該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在一家汽車廠關(guān)閉五年后，阿片類藥物過量在一些縣增加了85%。

"In a lot of areas around the country we're seeing that the American dream is really not panning out for a lot of people," he says.

他說:“在全國許多地區(qū)，我們看到很多人的美國夢實(shí)際上并不適合他們。”

To figure out whether the minimum wage was related to suicide rates, Kaufman and his coauthors looked at both numbers, by state, for every month between 1990 to 2015. They ran the numbers through a mathematical model which showed, on average, that for every $1 increase in the minimum wage, the suicide rate lowered by somewhere between 3.5% to 6%.

為了弄清楚最低工資是否與自殺率有關(guān)，考夫曼和他的合著者研究了1990年至2015年間各州的每月自殺率。他們通過一個數(shù)學(xué)模型來計(jì)算這些數(shù)字，這個數(shù)學(xué)模型顯示，平均來說，最低工資每增加1美元，自殺率就會降低3.5%到6%。