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Abstract
Background: Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance went into effect in 2015 with a schedule to increase the minimum wage to $15/hour. Previous studies have demonstrated an association between increased economic resources and improvements in food security and health. Higher wages could theoretically be used to purchase food, but could also result in losses to public assistance.
Purpose: The aims of this analysis are to describe how low-wage workers perceive household resources in relation to food acquisition, and to explore how workers in low-wage jobs connect food and diet to perceptions of health and wellbeing.
Methods: We analyzed three in-depth qualitative interviews and one phone survey from the Seattle Minimum Wage Study with 55 workers in low-wage jobs who were living in households with children, conducted between 2015-2017 (n=190 observations). We coded and analyzed
interviews using Campbell’s food acquisition framework and best practices for qualitative research.
Results: Participants relied on a combination of wages, government assistance, and private assistance from community or family resources to maintain an adequate food supply. Strategies tended to focus more on maintaining food quality than food quantity. Restricted resources also limited food-related leisure activities, which many participants considered important to quality of life.
Conclusions: Although many low-wage workers would like to use additional income to purchase higher quality foods or increase food-related leisure activities, they often perceive tradeoffs that limit income-based adjustments to food spending patterns. Future studies should be specifically designed to examine food choices in response to changes in income.
