LOS ANGELES An increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would lift at least 20,000 people in same-sex couples out of poverty, according to a new Williams Institute study. The study is co-authored by Williams Distinguished Scholar M.V. Lee Badgett and Alyssa Schneebaum, and also finds that a minimum wage increase would reduce the poverty rate by 24 percent or more for couples.
"This study demonstrates that an increase in the federal minimum wage would go a long way toward reducing poverty among LGBT people," said Badgett. "For example, the poverty rate for women in same-sex couples would fall from 7.9 percent to 5.9 percent with a $10.10 minimum wage."
Poverty rates fall for the most vulnerable people in same-sex couplesparticularly women and African Americansas well as for children in households led by same-sex couples. For example, among all people in same-sex couples, 7 percent of people are African American, but they are 14 percent of the group of people in same-sex couples who would move out of poverty. Similarly, same-sex couples with children make up 20 percent of all couples, but they are 37 percent of families leaving poverty.
Other key findings include:
Among people in same-sex couples living below the poverty line, people with disabilities, people aged 18-24, those without high school degrees, and those living in a rural area will also gain disproportionately from a higher minimum wage.
Even after a minimum wage increase, same-sex female couples and unmarried different-sex couples would remain more likely to be poor than different-sex married couples.
Unmarried different-sex couples would see the biggest poverty reduction benefit from a higher minimum wage. The groups who gain the most among different-sex couples are similar to those in same-sex couples, but Hispanic different-sex couples and different-sex couples aged 25-34 also benefit tremendously ( and proportionally more than same-sex couples ) from the minimum wage increase.
"Our study shows that groups at the intersection of different sources of disadvantage will gain the most, like low-income African American people in same-sex couples," noted study co-author Alyssa Schneebaum. "And, it is likely that even more people who earn just a bit above the minimum wage will also see a rise in income."
The study uses data on same-sex and different-sex couples from the 2012 American Community Survey ( ACS ), a nationally representative survey by the U.S. Census Bureau that collected data on more than 3 million individuals in 2012. The study simulates the impact of an increase in the federal minimum wage from the current rate of $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour on the family incomes of same-sex couples and different-sex couples.
The full study is available here: williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/min-wage-simulation-april-2014.pdf .
The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy advances law and public policy through rigorous, independent research and scholarship, and disseminates its work through a variety of education programs and media to judges, legislators, lawyers, other policy makers, and the public. williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/