People who lose their jobs in the USA are at a higher risk of depression than their European counterparts, according to a new study.
The recession of 2008 caused significant job losses in both Europe and the USA, with older workers, aged 50-64, being particularly hard hit. Unemployment rates among this age group rose from 3.1% to 7.3% in the USA, and from 5.4% to 6.15% in the EU-15 countries.
Prior evidence has suggested that job loss among older workers is associated with poorer health, increased substance use, and increased depression but this new study, led by Carlos Riumallo-Herl, of the London School of Economics, UK, is the first to compare how these associations differ across countries.
The researchers used harmonised data on 38,356 people included in the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for the years 2004-2010.
Surveys were carried out via questionnaire face-to-face in Europe and over the phone in America, and covered 13 European countries and the USA.
At each interview, individuals were classified into 4 broad categories: employed; unemployed and looking for work; retired; or disabled.
Data were also collected to distinguish reasons for job loss: due to the worker’s firm or plant closing down; due to redundancy; or job loss for another reason, such as mutual agreement or the end of a temporary contract.
Those in SHARE were rated on the Euro-Depression scale (EURO-D), while American respondents were rated on the short version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-D).
The results showed that overall job loss was associated with a 4.8% increase in depression scores in the USA, and a 3.4% increase in Europe.
However, when the team looked at job loss due to plant closure in isolation, depressive symptom scores increased by 28.2% in the USA and 7.5% in Europe.
“In the USA, the impact of job loss is significantly stronger for those with little or no wealth than for wealthier individuals and the impact of job loss due to plant closure was stronger than in Europe,” said Riumallo-Herl, whose study is published online at the International Journal of Epidemiology.
“In contrast, we observed significant but weaker effects of job loss on depressive symptoms in Europe, which were not modified by pre-existing levels of wealth.”
These findings raise questions about the potential role of safety net programmes in Europe in mitigating the impact of job loss on depression among workers with little or no savings.
“The stronger effect of job loss on depression in poor Americans compared with poor Europeans should prompt further research on the potential role of specific social protection programmes in buffering the impact of job loss among less wealthy workers and their families.”
Riumallo-Herl C et al. Job loss, wealth and depression during the Great Recession in the USA and Europe. International Journal of Epidemiology. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyu048
Leave a Reply