Arguments for and Against the $15 Minimum Wage for Health Care Workers

Himmelstein and Venkataramani (p. 198) point to the irony that the health care industry could be inadvertently causing sickness and injury by paying low wages to a large and growing number of workers. Health care, with approximately 18.6 million employed, recently became the largest industry in the United States, surpassing both retail and manufacturing (see Appendix, available as a supplement to the online version of this article at http://www.ajph.org, for additional references). Moreover, of the 10 projected fastest-growing occupations, five are in health care, and two of these—personal care and home health aides—are poorly paid (Appendix). Approximately 18.2% and 5.1% of employed women and men worked in health care in 2017 (Himmelstein and Venkataramani). Approximately 5.0 million (34.9%) women and 0.2 million (23.4%) men and disproportionate numbers of African Americans and Hispanics employed in health care earned less than $15 per hour in 2017 (Himmelstein and Venkataramani)