Purpose: The introduction of the statutory minimum wage in Germany on January 1st, 2015 represents one of the sharpest interventions of labour market policy since World War II. Although influenced by many factors, employment and working conditions comprise important determinants for individual health like working hours, salary, workplace policies or company manners. Therefore, the question arises whether individual health is affected by introducing the minimum wage and if so through which channels this effect is mediated.
Methods: The survey Panel "Labour Market and Social Security" (PASS) allows for the identification of persons who were affected by the new minimum wage (treatment-group) as well as non-treated (control-group). Using this characteristic, the calculation of the causal effect of the minimum wage introduction on individual health is made possible by means of a difference-in-differences propensity score matching approach.