Suicide Study

[Primemuscle]

A recent study showed a decline in suicides in places where the minimum wage increased and unemployment is low. Duh.

* Fewer suicides occur when minimum wages are higher during periods of elevated unemployment, according to a new study.
* Every $1 increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 6% reduction in suicide for high school grads.
* Boosting the minimum wage by $1 could have saved 27,550 lives from 1990 to 2015, the study says.

There are literally more than a dozen links to this article. Here are a few:

Reported in the Oregonian 1/11/2020

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minimum-wage-suicide-study-higher-minimum-wage-linked-to-lower-suicide-rate/

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/08/794568118/raising-the-minimum-wage-by-1-may-prevent-thousands-of-suicides-study-shows

https://www.cnn.com › 2020/01/09 › health › minimum-wage-suicide-trnd

https://theweek.com/articles/888495/research-suggests-theres-easy-way-reduce-suicide-rates-increase-minimum-wage

[Matt]

If I had to guess, it probably just postpones suicide.

Minimum wage doesn't work, and virtually no academic economists think it works.  It is a topic not remotely debated in economics circles.

[joswift]

A recent study showed a decline in suicides in places where the minimum wage increased and unemployment is low. Duh.

* Fewer suicides occur when minimum wages are higher during periods of elevated unemployment, according to a new study.
* Every $1 increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 6% reduction in suicide for high school grads.
* Boosting the minimum wage by $1 could have saved 27,550 lives from 1990 to 2015, the study says.

that type of behaviour pollutes the gene pool with weak genes...

[Primemuscle]

If I had to guess, it probably just postpones suicide.

Minimum wage doesn't work, and virtually no academic economists think it works.  It is a topic not remotely debated in economics circles.

I think the point is that poverty and unemployment contribute to suicide. Making a dollar more an hour is a good thing until everything you buy cost more too. At that point people are right back to being economically depressed which is where they started from.

[Primemuscle]

that type of behaviour pollutes the gene pool with weak genes...

Are you saying folks making a buck more an hours have more children?

[JustPlaneJane]

A recent study showed a decline in suicides in places where the minimum wage increased and unemployment is low. Duh.

* Fewer suicides occur when minimum wages are higher during periods of elevated unemployment, according to a new study.
* Every $1 increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 6% reduction in suicide for high school grads.
* Boosting the minimum wage by $1 could have saved 27,550 lives from 1990 to 2015, the study says.

I am 100% in favor of your suicide.

Soggy old queer.

[joswift]

Are you saying folks making a buck more an hours have more children?

Im not sure you still have all your faculties upstairs, go and read my post again

[Primemuscle]

Im not sure you still have all your faculties upstairs, go and read my post again

I guess if any of those 27,000 people reproduced, you could say this. But, only if you believe just people with weak genes make minimum wage or are sometimes suicidal.

[Primemuscle]

I am 100% in favor of your suicide.

Soggy old queer.

[m8]

It's over for many men since the sexual revolution.

[BBSSchlemiel]

It's over for many men since the sexual revolution.

That’s correct. All men should read Sexual Utopia in Power by F. Roger Devlin.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kYdXcswRa00

[Rambone]

Oversimplification of a very complex topic just because you think minimum wage should be higher.

Correlation is not causation. HTH

[XFACTOR]

That’s correct. All men should read Sexual Utopia in Power by F. Roger Devlin.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kYdXcswRa00

Nice recommendation. Checked out the reviews, book ordered

[MAXX]

It's over for many men since the sexual revolution.

any reason it peaked mid 90's?

[Moontrane]

any reason it peaked mid 90's?

Interesting question.

’94 - ‘95 saw the highest number of murders in America, nearly 25,000 per year. 
Population is 70-80M more today with about 17,000 murders annually.

[oldtimer1]

A recent study showed a decline in suicides in places where the minimum wage increased and unemployment is low. Duh.

* Fewer suicides occur when minimum wages are higher during periods of elevated unemployment, according to a new study.
* Every $1 increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 6% reduction in suicide for high school grads.
* Boosting the minimum wage by $1 could have saved 27,550 lives from 1990 to 2015, the study says.

Talk about a study that biased and framed design to come to a predetermined conclusion. When minimum wage goes up the amount of jobs available go down. Minimum wage was never meant to be a career. It's a job for high school/college kids and those supplementing the main source of family income. It's was never meant to be a career choice. 

Take a little mom and pop dry cleaner with three employees. When $15 an hours hits they have to pay over 100k in salary and benefits. Now they have to pay the rent and pay them self. It's a recipe for going out of business. What happens is they will hire two four hour part time employees to avoid having to pay benefits. So one will come in 8A to 12P. The next will come in 12P to 4P. The other option is to pay people cash so no taxes will come out and they can pay a lower rate. We see major companies trying to avoid the raised minimum wages by putting self service check out machines. We are seeing them in McDonalds and places like Home depot.

[Primemuscle]

Oversimplification of a very complex topic just because you think minimum wage should be higher.

Correlation is not causation. HTH

News flash. I didn't do the study. What My thoughts on minimum wage is not relevant. If you think it is an over simplification, take it up with the source.

[pellius]

The problem is not that the government doesn't force private businesses to pay people more. The problem is that people today are less able to cope with stress. Generations of relative prosperity have made our culture soft and weak and we have presumably so fine-tuned our society that now we can worry about Confederate Statues, being too fat, redefining marriage and sexual gender, not getting your PopEye Chicken sandwich,
forbidden words that hurt feelings, safe spaces...

I'm sure you can find a correlation between high housing prices, bad weather, the Holiday season, Secularism, price of oil (which affects the entire economy at large), Tyrant bosses, the S&P and DJA..., and suicides.

Every Christmas season I read about how suicide rates increase during the Holidays. Is that the fault of the Holidays? If we eliminated Christmas and Thanksgiving and suicide rates went down does that mean we should eliminate those Holidays?

[Primemuscle]

The problem is not that the government doesn't force private businesses to pay people more. The problem is that people today are less able to cope with stress. Generations of relative prosperity have made our culture soft and weak and we have presumably so fine-tuned our society that now we can worry about Confederate Statues, being too fat, redefining marriage and sexual gender, not getting your PopEye Chicken sandwich,
forbidden words that hurt feelings, safe spaces...

I'm sure you can find a correlation between high housing prices, bad weather, the Holiday season, Secularism, price of oil (which affects the entire economy at large), Tyrant bosses, the S&P and DJA..., and suicides.

Every Christmas season I read about how suicide rates increase during the Holidays. Is that the fault of the Holidays? If we eliminated Christmas and Thanksgiving and suicide rates went down does that mean we should eliminate those Holidays?

Great observations.

[Powerlift66]

I am 100% in favor of your suicide.

Soggy old queer.

 

[Humble Narcissist]

The problem is not that the government doesn't force private businesses to pay people more. The problem is that people today are less able to cope with stress. Generations of relative prosperity have made our culture soft and weak and we have presumably so fine-tuned our society that now we can worry about Confederate Statues, being too fat, redefining marriage and sexual gender, not getting your PopEye Chicken sandwich,
forbidden words that hurt feelings, safe spaces...

I'm sure you can find a correlation between high housing prices, bad weather, the Holiday season, Secularism, price of oil (which affects the entire economy at large), Tyrant bosses, the S&P and DJA..., and suicides.

Every Christmas season I read about how suicide rates increase during the Holidays. Is that the fault of the Holidays? If we eliminated Christmas and Thanksgiving and suicide rates went down does that mean we should eliminate those Holidays?

Great post.

[Rambone]

News flash. I didn't do the study. What My thoughts on minimum wage is not relevant. If you think it is an over simplification, take it up with the source.

You sure didn’t, but your biased comments didn’t go unnoticed. You wouldn’t have been a good scientist. Sugar consumption and obesity rose together in the past and with your style of thought, you would’ve linked the two together, started a thread and said “duh”. Lo and behold, sugar consumption has dropped off, yet obesity continues to rise. Once again, correlation is not causation. Duh. There are so many other factors to consider like the introduction to more effective anti-depression drugs through the length of the study, and why do very high income individual have a higher suicide rate as well? I thought income was the main source of suicide according to implications of you and this study

[Primemuscle]

Talk about a study that biased and framed design to come to a predetermined conclusion. When minimum wage goes up the amount of jobs available go down. Minimum wage was never meant to be a career. It's a job for high school/college kids and those supplementing the main source of family income. It's was never meant to be a career choice. 

Take a little mom and pop dry cleaner with three employees. When $15 an hours hits they have to pay over 100k in salary and benefits. Now they have to pay the rent and pay them self. It's a recipe for going out of business. What happens is they will hire two four hour part time employees to avoid having to pay benefits. So one will come in 8A to 12P. The next will come in 12P to 4P. The other option is to pay people cash so no taxes will come out and they can pay a lower rate. We see major companies trying to avoid the raised minimum wages by putting self service check out machines. We are seeing them in McDonalds and places like Home depot.

You are making much more out of this study than it is reporting. It isn't taking a stand for or against increasing minimum wage. It's saying that when people have more cash, even a little as $1 an hour and when they have jobs, they appear to be less likely to commit suicide. Well, duh. It only stands to reason that being better off makes people happier with life.

The study has nothing to do with whether mom and pop businesses or anyone else can afford to pay minimum wage or. It's irrelevant that some businesses cut hours to avoid paying benefits or pay people under the table. Companies like Home Depot and McDonald's install self service check out systems to increase their profits. Many customers who hate waiting in lines love these, but that has nothing to do with minimum wage either.

My guess is what you've mentioned here are things that you and/or people you know are affected by in some way that's is a negative. The fact is because of technology, and the ability to automate certain tasks, there are likely to be less jobs at all levels and fewer of the occupations in which people currently work. Nothing new here, employment and occupations are ever changing and have been since the beginning time.

[Mothballs]

Clearly the suicide rate has increased since the civil rights act was passed in 1964. We need to roll back these horrible laws that have caused so many innocent lives to be lost.

[SF1900]

I think the point is that poverty and unemployment contribute to suicide. Making a dollar more an hour is a good thing until everything you buy cost more too. At that point people are right back to being economically depressed which is where they started from.

Fair enough, although suicide is most understood through a multifactorial approach, as is most understanding of human behavior.