Raising the minimum wage could lower the suicide rate, according to a study published last week, delivering labor advocates a tantalizing new finding about the broader impacts of wage changes even as some experts said other factors could explain the decrease.

More than 47,000 Americans died by suicide in 2017, and with other so-called deaths of despair — drug overdoses and alcoholism — it has grown into a slow-motion public health crisis. The phenomenon is difficult to study, and researchers have struggled to find effective prevention strategies.

The new study examined suicide rates from 1990 through 2015 across all 50 states and Washington, and measured how they changed as the minimum wage increased. The researchers focused on adults between 18 and 64 years old with a high school education or less — a group more likely than others to be affected by changes in the minimum wage.

When controlling for changes in a state’s economy and welfare policies, the researchers estimated that a $1 increase in the minimum wage corresponded with a 3.5 percent decrease in the suicide rate for those with a high school education or less. Without some of the controls, the decrease in the suicide rate was 6 percent. The effect was most pronounced during times of high unemployment.