As disasters increase due to climate change, population density, epidemics, and technology, information is needed about postdisaster consequences for people’s mental health and how stress-related mental disorders affect multiple spheres of life, including labor-market attachment. We tested the causal hypothesis that individuals who developed stress-related mental disorders as a consequence of their disaster exposure experienced subsequent weak labor-market attachment and poor work-related outcomes. We leveraged a natural experiment in an instrumental variables model, studying a 2004 fireworks factory explosion disaster that precipitated the onset of stress-related disorders (posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression) among individuals in the local community (N = 86,726). We measured labor-market outcomes using longitudinal population-level administrative data: sick leave, unemployment benefits, early retirement pension, and income from wages from 2007 to 2010. We found that individuals who developed a stress-related disorder after the disaster were likely to go on sickness benefit, both in the short- and long-term, were likely to use unemployment benefits and to lose wage income in the long term. Stress-related disorders did not increase the likelihood of early retirement. The natural experiment design minimized the possibility that omitted confounders biased these effects of mental health on work outcomes. Addressing the mental health and employment needs of survivors after a traumatic experience may improve their labor-market outcomes and their nations’ economic outputs.

中文翻译：

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心理健康对劳动力市场结果的因果影响：人为灾难后与压力相关的精神障碍案例


随着气候变化、人口密度、流行病和技术导致灾害增加，我们需要了解灾后对人们心理健康的影响以及与压力相关的精神障碍如何影响生活的多个领域，包括劳动力市场依恋。我们测试了因果假设，即因灾难暴露而出现与压力相关的精神障碍的个人随后经历了较弱的劳动力市场依恋和较差的工作相关结果。我们利用工具变量模型中的自然实验，研究了 2004 年烟花工厂爆炸灾难，该灾难导致当地社区个体出现与压力相关的疾病（创伤后应激障碍、焦虑和抑郁）（N = 86,726）。我们使用纵向人口层面的管理数据来衡量劳动力市场的结果：2007年至2010年的病假、失业救济金、提前退休金和工资收入。我们发现，在灾难后患上与压力相关的疾病的个人很可能无论是短期还是长期继续领取疾病救济金的人，都可能使用失业救济金，并从长远来看失去工资收入。与压力相关的疾病并没有增加提前退休的可能性。自然的实验设计最大限度地减少了忽略混杂因素而使心理健康对工作结果的影响产生偏差的可能性。解决创伤经历后幸存者的心理健康和就业需求可能会改善他们的劳动力市场结果和国家的经济产出。