Minimum Wage and Birth Outcomes

After a pause in statutory minimum wage increases during the Great Recession, several states increased minimum wages since 2010, including increases as large as 60% over just a few years.  Using a triple-differences framework and data on the universe of births from 2010 to 2019, this study investigates how recent minimum wage hikes affected birth outcomes. We first document sizeable negative impacts of minimum wage policy on the employment and economic well-being of females ages 16-44.  We then find mixed effects on birth outcomes, estimating that minimum wage increases led to lower birth weights, fewer normal birthweight births, and more small-for-gestational age births, but longer gestations. These findings generally contrast with an earlier literature relying on typically much smaller minimum wage increases which showed more evidence of positive impacts on birth outcomes.