Winkler Megan R, Clohan Rachel, Komro Kelli A, Livingston Melvin D, Markowitz Sara
Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences, Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia.
Department of Economics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Mar 3;8(3):e252043. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.2043.
Food insecurity among households with children and economic hardship is a persistent US challenge. Federal food assistance programs have been unable to fully address food insecurity, leading to interest in the role other labor and economic policies could play. One relevant state-level policy that has received limited attention is the state minimum wage.
To assess whether state minimum wage generosity was associated with change in food insecurity among households with children and explore differential policy impacts across sociodemographic groups.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study of a national sample of US households from the Current Population Survey used a 2-way fixed effects modeling approach to test whether increases in state minimum wage from 2005 to 2022 were associated with improvements in food insecurity controlling for household- and state-level time-varying covariates. Working households with children who were most likely to be affected by policy changes (ie, limited educational attainment) were included. Analyses were conducted in July through September 2024.
The 2022 inflation-adjusted effective minimum wage for each state in December which was derived from legal sources.
Past-month household food insecurity assessed in December 2022.
The sample of 97 944 working households with children and limited educational attainment were mostly female headed (54 077 [55.2%]) with a mean (SD) 1.8 (1.1) children in the home; 22 130 households (22.6%) reported Hispanic identity, 10 545 non-Hispanic Black (10.8%), and 59 500 non-Hispanic White (60.8%). Inflation-adjusted state minimum wage ranged from $7.15 to $16.85 over the 18-year study period. We observed that a 10% increase in the state minimum wage was significantly associated with a 0.39 percentage point reduction (95% CI, -0.74 to -0.04 percentage points; P = .03) in food insecurity. There was limited evidence of differences in the association across race and ethnicity, participation in the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or household composition.
In this pooled cross-sectional study, findings suggest that state legislatures that elected to increase their state minimum wage may have also improved state food security rates among households with children at risk for economic hardship. Findings provide policymakers with actionable evidence to consider in setting minimum wages that could reduce the burden of food insecurity among US children and families.
有孩子家庭的粮食不安全和经济困难是美国长期面临的挑战。联邦粮食援助计划未能完全解决粮食不安全问题，这引发了人们对其他劳动和经济政策可能发挥的作用的关注。一项受到有限关注的相关州级政策是州最低工资。
评估州最低工资的慷慨程度是否与有孩子家庭粮食不安全状况的变化相关，并探讨不同社会人口群体的政策差异影响。
设计、背景和参与者：这项基于当前人口调查的美国家庭全国样本的横断面研究采用双向固定效应建模方法，以检验2005年至2022年州最低工资的提高是否与控制家庭和州层面随时间变化的协变量后粮食不安全状况的改善相关。纳入了最有可能受到政策变化影响（即教育程度有限）的有孩子的在职家庭。分析于2024年7月至9月进行。
12月每个州经通胀调整后的2022年有效最低工资，数据来源于法律文件。
2022年12月评估的过去一个月家庭粮食不安全状况。
97944个有孩子且教育程度有限的在职家庭样本中，大多数家庭由女性当家（54077户[55.2%]），家中平均（标准差）有1.8（1.1）个孩子；22130户家庭（22.6%）报告为西班牙裔身份，10545户非西班牙裔黑人（10.8%），59500户非西班牙裔白人（60.8%）。在18年的研究期间，经通胀调整后的州最低工资从7.15美元到16.85美元不等。我们观察到，州最低工资提高10%与粮食不安全状况显著降低0.39个百分点相关（95%置信区间，-0.74至-0.04个百分点；P = 0.03）。在不同种族和族裔、参与美国补充营养援助计划或家庭构成方面，这种关联差异的证据有限。
在这项汇总横断面研究中，研究结果表明，选择提高州最低工资的州立法机构可能也提高了有经济困难风险的有孩子家庭的州粮食安全率。研究结果为政策制定者在设定最低工资时提供了可采取行动的证据，以减轻美国儿童和家庭的粮食不安全负担。
