Middle-age workers who tend to earn a low wage have an elevated mortality risk, especially when they experience unstable employment, according to a study published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA.
\nResearchers from Columbia University\u2019s Mailman School of Public Health tracked employment and health metrics for about 4,000 workers in the US across a 12-year period, using data from the University of Michigan\u2019s Health and Retirement Study collected between 1992 and 2018. All participants were at least 50 years old at the beginning of the study period and in their 60s at the end.
\nWorkers who had a sustained history of low wages \u2013 annual earnings below the poverty line for a family of four \u2013 were 38% more likely to die over the course of 12 years than those who had never experienced low-wage earnings.
\nThe risk was more than twice as high for workers who had fluctuating employment along with sustained low wages.
\nShifts in labor market composition and worker shortages in high-demand areas have helped push up US wages over the past two years.
\nHowever, by and large, those wage gains couldn\u2019t keep up with historically high price inflation.
\nAdjusting for inflation, wages and salaries declined 1.2% for the 12 months ending December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics\u2019 Employment Cost Index.
\nLower- and middle-income workers \u2013 especially in industries such as leisure and hospitality \u2013 typically saw faster wage growth than higher earners, and some even eked out gains that surpassed inflation; however, household incomes remained uneven, and those groups continue to be disproportionately hurt by higher inflation, research shows.
\nThe lion\u2019s share of low-income households\u2019 earnings goes toward necessities such as food, gas and rent \u2013 categories with higher-than-average and stubbornly high inflation \u2013 and they lack the savings and wiggle room of wealthier households to buy in bulk or delay purchases, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas researchers.
\nAdditionally, the incidence of high inflation stress is higher for Black and Hispanic people than others, the Dallas Fed researchers wrote.
\nThere are well-established links between socioeconomic status and health, and the authors of the new study said that focusing on wages adds an important perspective. Wages \u201ccapture aspects of both income and occupation that may impact health in distinct ways,\u201d they wrote. Workers with low wages are among the \u201cmost vulnerable in the workforce,\u201d as they disproportionately work jobs with the highest exposure to workplace hazards, job stress and other established health risks.
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\nData from this study showed that workers with sustained low wages were significantly more likely than others to report poor or fair health and elevated symptoms of depression, and to never have had health insurance covered by their employer.
\nThe study authors also noted that wages are unique from many other social determinants of health in that there are actionable policy measures.
\nWages are a \u201cmodifiable and an actionable risk factor for potentially improving health and, in particular, health inequalities\u201d because Black, Hispanic and female workers are disproportionately represented in the low-wage workforce and most likely to benefit from higher wages.<\/p>\n
Cnn<\/p>\n
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