Human
Unemployment Kills, Recession Reduces Mortality Risk
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jul 25, 2014 04:35 PM EDT
Unemployment can increase the risk of depression and even death, for some. However, recent findings suggest that being in a recession may have the opposite effect.
"Most people believe that being unemployed is a bad thing. But what many people do not realize is that economic expansions - which usually reduce joblessness - also have effects that are harmful for society at large," said Jose Tapia, an economist with Drexel University's college of arts and sciences, in a news release.
For the study, researchers examined data from the U.S. Department of Labor and annual survey data of the years 1979-1997.
Results showed a strong correlation between joblessness and increased risk of death among certain individuals who were unemployed. Furthermore, findings revealed that job loss was associated with a 73 percent increased probability of death; that's the equivalent of 10 years from a person's life.
"The increase in the risk of death associated with being unemployed is very strong," said Tapia, "but it is restricted to unemployed persons, who generally are a small fraction of the population, even in a severe recession. Compared with the increase in the risk of death among the unemployed, the decrease of the mortality risk associated with a weakening economy is small, but the benefit spreads across the entire adult population. The compound result of both effects is that total mortality rises in expansions and falls in recessions."
More information regarding the findings can be seen via the article "Individual Joblessness, Contextual Unemployment, and Mortality Risk," via the American Journal of Epidemiology.
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First Posted: Jul 25, 2014 04:35 PM EDT
Unemployment can increase the risk of depression and even death, for some. However, recent findings suggest that being in a recession may have the opposite effect.
"Most people believe that being unemployed is a bad thing. But what many people do not realize is that economic expansions - which usually reduce joblessness - also have effects that are harmful for society at large," said Jose Tapia, an economist with Drexel University's college of arts and sciences, in a news release.
For the study, researchers examined data from the U.S. Department of Labor and annual survey data of the years 1979-1997.
Results showed a strong correlation between joblessness and increased risk of death among certain individuals who were unemployed. Furthermore, findings revealed that job loss was associated with a 73 percent increased probability of death; that's the equivalent of 10 years from a person's life.
"The increase in the risk of death associated with being unemployed is very strong," said Tapia, "but it is restricted to unemployed persons, who generally are a small fraction of the population, even in a severe recession. Compared with the increase in the risk of death among the unemployed, the decrease of the mortality risk associated with a weakening economy is small, but the benefit spreads across the entire adult population. The compound result of both effects is that total mortality rises in expansions and falls in recessions."
More information regarding the findings can be seen via the article "Individual Joblessness, Contextual Unemployment, and Mortality Risk," via the American Journal of Epidemiology.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone