Question

How does the US wage stagnation since the 70s relate to public health?

Answer 1

In real (Purchasing Power Parity) terms, US wages have been almost stagnant since the 1970s. In 2018 dollar terms, the average hourly wage in 1964 was $20.27. It is $22.65 now.

This stagnation in the wage relates negatively with public health. It means that the stagnation results in deterioration of public health. The reasons are-

• While wages have stagnated, health and insurance costs have gone up. This results in higher and higher part of wage being used up by health related costs. It also means that a lot of public will not be able to have good healthcare and hence- worse public health.
• Higher health costs and stagnant wages mean people will work for more hours and hence have worse work-life balance- resulting in even worse public health.
• Higher healthcare cost will also force public towards alternate and/or generic medicines. This might result in degradation of general public health.
• If people are not able to afford healthcare- they are also susceptible to spreading their diseases to others. That also results in worse public health.

Due to the above reasons, wage stagnation has affected public health negatively.