Increasing
minimum wage would reduce teen pregnancies
Indiana University
A $1 increase in the minimum wage would likely reduce the U.S.
adolescent birth rate by about 2 percent, according to new Indiana University
research.
That would mean about 5,000 fewer births annually, and the
number could go higher if the minimum wage increase climbed over $1, according
to Lindsey Rose Bullinger, the study author and an associate instructor and
doctoral student at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
"Higher wages can give teens a reason to keep
working," Bullinger said. "Their advancement opportunities would
improve, and they'd have good reason to delay childbearing or substitute work
for leisure."
Many studies have looked at the impact of a minimum wage hike on
the economy, but few have analyzed the public health implications.
It is a
critical issue because the U.S. has the highest adolescent birth rate among
developed countries.
Infants of teen mothers generally have worse birth outcomes than
children of older mothers.
Additionally, parenthood at an early age costs the
public more than $9 billion annually because of expenses related to health
care, foster care and foregone tax revenue from parents who leave the labor force.
"We know from previous research that an increase in the minimum wage is good for the health of the worker," Bullinger said.
"They live longer, have lower body mass indexes and are less likely to
abuse children, among other benefits. This study adds to those findings by
showing that higher pay means fewer births to adolescent parents. This is
especially true for non-Hispanic white and Hispanic adolescents because they
are more likely to be affected by minimum wage increases."
The federal minimum wage is $7.25, but some cities and states
have higher rates, including San Francisco and Seattle, where $15 is the hourly
minimum.
So increases of more than $1 are not unrealistic, which could avert
even more teen births. Bullinger conducted a sophisticated statistical analysis
of the differences in birth rates from state to state.