Wage Theft: A Critical Labor Determinant of Health

Wage theft is a widespread but underrecognized feature of low wage
labor markets in the United States. Common forms of wage theft include unpaid overtime and wages below the legal minimum. Using the most recent estimates, Cooper and Kroeger found that employers stole roughly $15 billion per year through minimum wage violations in
the mid-2010s. By comparison, the FBI estimated that the combined value of all robberies, burglaries, larceny, and motor vehicle theft was $12.7 billion in 2015. Minimum wage violations thus exceeded the total value of property crimes, yet only a small share of stolen wages is ever
recovered. Galvin estimates that 16.9% of low-wage workers reported minimum wage violations. Despite these striking figures, wage theft remains understudied. This gap may begin to close with the comprehensive data set on wage theft laws covering 40 cities and 25 states compiled by Lee et al. (p. 492) in this issue of AJPH, which I believe will be the gold standard for future research.