Summary: A UCLA-led study reports states that increased the minimum wage by $1 per hour had a 7-15% reduction in divorce rates among couples earning lower wages.
Source: UCLA
A report by UCLA psychologists and RAND economists has identified an effective way to reduce the number of divorces among lower-income Americans: Raise the minimum wage.
The study, which is published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, is the first to analyze the effects of states’ minimum wage increases on the rates of marriage and divorce among low-wage earners.
“When policymakers think about ways of helping disadvantaged families, there has been a general tendency to try teaching them things like better communication or coping skills,” said UCLA psychology professor Benjamin Karney, the study’s lead author. “The assumption that the consequences of income inequality can be managed this way has been proven wrong again and again.
“Luckily, there are other, more direct avenues to improving the lives of disadvantaged families, and one is to pursue policies that improve their lives in concrete ways.”
The study is especially timely. In March, the Republican subcommittee of the Senate Joint Economic Committee published a report expressing members’ continued commitment to communication skills education programs as a way to strengthen marriage among low-income Americans. Over the past two decades, the federal government has allocated nearly $1 billion toward such programs.
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