Vermont public health association

Adopted June 2021

Description: The final report of the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Disparities and Inequalities Report identified income as a key factor influencing the health outcomes of individuals, families, and communities (Baron, Steege, Marsh, Menendez, Myers. 2013; World Health Organization Committee on the Social Determinates of Health, 2008) As described in the Healthy People 2020 report from the US Department of Health and Human Services (2020), financial capacity shapes individual and population health by influencing the degree to which an individual’s basic needs are met as well as other social determinants of health, such as safe housing and communities, educational achievement, and job opportunities (USDHHS, 2020). Those earning lower wages face significant barriers to safe and healthy environments and resources which support health (USDHHS, 2020).

By contrast, the concept of a living wage, or a wage reflecting the actual income needed to meet minimum standards of living, allows people to meet an array of basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, transportation, child care, and medical care (Bhatia and Katz, 2001).  More than a decade’s worth of research indicates that increasing the minimum wage to a livable wage is an effective means of improving public health across many settings (Leigh, 2016).

As of January 1, 2021 the minimum wage in Vermont was raised from $10.96 per hour to $11.75 and is set to increase again on January 1, 2022 to $12.55 (Vermont, 2020); however, many workers in Vermont are exempted from these minimum wage requirements.  Service employees who earn more than $120 per month in the hotel, motel, tourist, and restaurant industries are subjected to a minimum wage equivalent to one half of the State minimum wage. In Vermont, as of May 2019, approximately 26,280 workers were involved in food services (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). Of those food service workers at least 8,640 worked as wait staff, bartenders, or in other tipped positions (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). Many tipped workers are undoubtedly employed in the hotel, motel, and tourist industries but their numbers are not readily available in labor statistics. These exempted workers, many of whom are women and people of color, play a vital role in the Vermont economy, help to ensure an accessible food supply and support to the lodging industry; however, many of these individuals are not assured the minimal wage or livable wages.

A sustainable economy and food system must integrate just and equitable labor practices which includes ensuring that labor laws are extended to tipped service workers who were formerly excluded from such protections as minimum wage requirements. 

Relationship to Existing Policy Statements:

• APHA Policy Statement 201110: Ending Agricultural Exceptionalism: Strengthening Worker Protection in Agriculture Through Regulation, Enforcement, Training, and Improved Worksite Health and Safety
• APHA Policy Statement 20167: Improving Health by Increasing the Minimum Wage
• APHA Policy Statement 200712: Toward a Healthy Sustainable Food System
• APHA Policy Statement 20136: Support for Paid Sick Leave and Family Leave Policies
• APHA Policy Statement 20063: Preparing for Pandemic Influenza
• APHA Policy Statement 20148: Ensuring Workplace Safety for Temporary Workers

Policy Statement: The VtPHA supports the right of all people to earn a living wage sufficient to support a dignified existence. Meaningful and safe work, properly compensated is key to public health.

Supported Actions: Recognizing that historically underserved populations, predominantly women and people of color, are disproportionately represented among workers in service industries which are exempted from State minimum wage standards; the VtPHA supports removing exemptions from minimum wage requirements for all workers.

State Level:

• Eliminate minimum wage exemptions that apply to tipped workers.
• Increase the minimum wage to at least that defined in the Legislature’s Basic Needs Budget and Livable Wage and indexing this rate to inflation and the cost of living.
• Review the methodology and available data related to the Basic Needs Budget and Livable Wage calculation in order to ensure that the calculations remain current and consistent with changes in the cost of living.  

Local Municipalities:

• Consider increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation and the cost of living for the area

Potential Barriers:

Even applying the Vermont minimum wage to all workers will still leave a large number of these workers, particularly those living in single earner households, with inadequate income to support a livable wage, a dignified and healthy existence.

References:

Baron SL, Steege AL, Marsh SM, Menéndez CC, Myers JR. CDC health disparities and inequalities report—United States, 2013. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2013;62(suppl 3):35–40.

Bhatia R, Katz M. Estimation of health benefits from a local living wage ordinance. Am J Public Health. 2001;91:1398–1402.

Leigh JP. Could raising the minimum wage improve the public’s health? Am J Public Health. 2016;106:1355–1356.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. State Occupational Employment Statistics: Vermont.  Accessed from https://labor.vermont.gov/sites/labor/files/doc_library/Information%20on%20tips.pdf on January 23, 2021.

US Department of Health and Human Services. Determinants of health: Healthy People 2020. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Determinants-of-Health. Accessed January 16, 2021.

Vermont. 2020. An Act Relating to Increasing the Minimum Wage, Vermont. Stat.§23 (2020) accessed from: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2020/Docs/BILLS/S-0023/S-0023%20House%20proposal%20of%20amendment%20Official.pdf on January 23, 2021

 World Health Organization Committee on the Social Determinants of Health. Closing the gap in a generation. Available at: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/43943/1/9789241563703_eng.pdf. Accessed January 16, 2021.