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Original research
Association between state minimum wage and firearm suicides in the USA, 2000–2020
  1. Molly Merrill-Francis1,
  2. Christopher Dunphy2,
  3. Natalie Lennon2,
  4. May S Chen1,
  5. Catherine Grady1,
  6. Gabrielle F Miller2,
  7. Candace Girod1,
  8. Alexander Duncan McCourt3
  1. 1Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  2. 2Division of Injury Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  3. 3Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Molly Merrill-Francis, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; MFrancis2{at}cdc.gov

Abstract

Background Firearm suicides constitute a major public health issue. Policies that enhance economic security and decrease community-level poverty may be effective strategies for reducing risk of firearm suicide. This study examined the association between state minimum wage and firearm suicide.

Methods State minimum wage, obtained from Temple’s Law Atlas and augmented by legal research, was conceptualised using the modified Kaitz Index and a continuous variable centred on the federal minimum wage. State-level suicide counts were obtained from 2000 to 2020 multiple-cause-of-death mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System. Log-linear regressions were conducted to model the associations between state minimum wage and firearm suicides, stratifying by demographic groups. Analyses were conducted in 2023.

Results A one percentage point increase in a state’s modified Kaitz Index was associated with a 0.3% (95% CI −0.6% to –0.0%) decrease in firearm suicides within a state. A US$1.00 increase in a state’s minimum wage above the federal minimum wage was associated with a 1.4% (95% CI −2.1% to –0.6%) decrease in firearm suicides. When stratified by quartile of firearm ownership, the modified Kaitz Index was associated with decreases in firearm suicides most consistently in the two lowest quartiles.

Conclusion Increasing a state’s minimum wage may be a policy option to consider as part of a comprehensive approach to reducing firearm suicides. These findings expand the evidence base for how economic policies may be leveraged to reduce firearm suicides.

  • Public Health
  • Firearm
  • Suicide/Self?Harm
  • Ecological Study
  • Policy analysis

Data availability statement

Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Data were obtained from NCHS. More information may be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/nvss-restricted-data.htm.

https://doi.org/10.1136/ip-2024-045266

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    Data availability statement

    Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Data were obtained from NCHS. More information may be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/nvss-restricted-data.htm.

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    Footnotes

    • X @admccourt

    • Contributors MM-F is guarantor for this research. MM-F, CD and MC conceptualised the study. MM-F, CD and GFM aggregated and cleaned the data. CG and ADM conducted the legal epidemiology for the study. ADM led the selection of appropriate policy covariates. MM-F and CD conducted the analyses. MM-F, CD, NL and MC contributed to the writing. All authors contributed to the data analysis plan, interpretation of the results and review of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.