Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr;42(4):514-523.
doi: 10.1177/07334648221124913. Epub 2022 Sep 13.

The Effects of Increasing State Minimum Wage on Family and Paid Caregiving

Eric Jutkowitz  1   2   3 , Derek Lake  1 , Peter Shewmaker  1 , Joseph E Gaugler  4
Affiliations

The Effects of Increasing State Minimum Wage on Family and Paid Caregiving

Eric Jutkowitz et al. J Appl Gerontol. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Older adults may receive either or a combination of unpaid family/friend and paid caregiving. The consumption of family/friend and paid caregiving may be sensitive to minimum wage policies. We used data (n = 11,698 unique respondents) from the Health and Retirement Study and a difference-in-differences design to evaluate associations between increases in state minimum wage between 2010 and 2014 and family/friend and paid caregiving consumed by adults age 65+ years. We also examined responses to increases in minimum wage for respondents with dementia or Medicaid beneficiaries. People living in states that increased their minimum wage did not consume substantially different hours of family/friend, paid, or any family/friend or paid caregiving. We did not observe differential responses between increases in minimum wage and hours of family/friend or paid caregiving among people with dementia or Medicaid beneficiaries. Increases in state minimum wage were not associated with changes in caregiving consumed by adults age 65+.

Keywords: caregiving; dementia; long-term care; wages.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

All authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Appendix Figure 1:
Appendix Figure 1:
Family/Friend and Paid Caregiving Hours by States Which Did and Did Not Increase Minimum Wage in 2010.
Appendix Figure 2:
Appendix Figure 2:
Derivation of Analytic Sample
Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Unadjusted Family/Friend Hours Caregiving, Receiving Any Family/Friend Caregiving, and Family/Friend Hours Caregiving Conditional on Receiving Any Family/Friend Caregiving
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Unadjusted Paid Hours Caregiving, Receiving Any Paid Caregiving, and Paid Hours Caregiving Conditional on Receiving Any Paid Caregiving
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Belman D, Wolfson P, & Nawakitphaitoon K (2015). Who Is Affected by the Minimum Wage? Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 54(4), 582–621. 10.1111/irel.12107 - DOI
    1. Buszkiewicz JH, Hill HD, & Otten JJ (2021). Association of State Minimum Wage Rates and Health in Working-Age Adults Using the National Health Interview Survey. American Journal of Epidemiology, 190(1), 21–30. 10.1093/aje/kwaa018 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Card D, & Krueger AB (1993). Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (No. w4509). National Bureau of Economic Research. 10.3386/w4509 - DOI
    1. Charles KK, & Sevak P (2005). Can family caregiving substitute for nursing home care? Journal of Health Economics, 24(6), 1174–1190. 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2005.05.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Clemens J, & Strain MR (2018). The Short-Run Employment Effects of Recent Minimum Wage Changes: Evidence from The American Community Survey. Contemporary Economic Policy, 36(4), 711–722. 10.1111/coep.12279 - DOI

Appendix References

    1. Cameron AC, & Trivedi PK Microeconometrics: methods and applications. Cambridge university press. 2005
    1. Clemens J, Strain MR. The Short-Run Employment Effects Of Recent Minimum Wage Changes: Evidence From The American Community Survey. Contemporary Economic Policy. 2018;36(4):711–22
    1. Clemens J, Wither M. The Minimum Wage And The Great Recession: Evidence Of Effects On The Employment And Income Trajectories Of Low-Skilled Workers. Journal Of Public Economics. 2019. 2019/02/01/;170:53–67
    1. Gruber J The Incidence Of Mandated Maternity Benefits. The American Economic Review. 1994;84(3):622–41 - PubMed
    1. Lang K, Donald S. Inference With Differences-In-Differences and Other Panel Data. The Review of Economics and Statistics. 2007. 02/01;89:221–33

Publication types