The impact of minimum wages on overall health and well-being: Global evidence from the Gallup World Poll

Highlights

• We examine how minimum wage increases impact overall health and well-being.
• Our analysis uses Gallup World Poll data (2009–2020) from 87 countries worldwide.
• Higher minimum wages improve health and certain aspects of well-being.
• The effects likely arise from both income and substitution channels.

We examine the impact of minimum wage increases on the overall self-reported health and subjective well-being of low-skilled workers using the Gallup World Poll from 2009 to 2020.

We identify effects using within-country changes over time and cross-country variations in the timing and intensity of minimum wage increases across 87 countries.

Our findings suggest that minimum wage increases benefit health and certain dimensions of subjective well-being. Specifically, we estimate a range of specifications and find that a 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage leads to an increase in self-reported health ranging from 0 per cent to 1 per cent and an increase in satisfaction with the standard of living between 1 per cent and 6 per cent, at the outcome means.

Minimum wage increases are linked to higher incomes, a lower likelihood of overtime work, enhanced social interactions, and more positive daily experiences.

These benefits are especially significant in countries with stronger rule of law, among male workers, and for individuals in nations with free and universal healthcare access.

A series of sensitivity and placebo tests confirm the robustness of these findings.