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The association of COVID-19 employment shocks with suicide and safety net use: An early-stage investigation.
Ando, Michihito; Furuichi, Masato.
  • Ando M; Department of Economics, Rikkyo Univeristy, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Furuichi M; Department of Economics, Teikyo Univeristy, Tokyo, Japan.
PLoS One ; 17(3): e0264829, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1759949
ABSTRACT
This paper examines whether the COVID-19-induced employment shocks are associated with increases in suicides and safety net use in the second and third quarters of 2020. We exploit plausibly exogenous regional variation in the magnitude of the employment shocks in Japan and adopt a difference-in-differences research design to examine and control for possible confounders. Our preferred point estimates suggest that a one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2020 is associated with, approximately, an additional 0.52 suicides, 28 unemployment benefit recipients, 88 recipients of a temporary loan program, and 10 recipients of public assistance per 100,000 population per month. A simple calculation based on these estimates suggests that if a region experienced a one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate caused by the COVID-19 crisis in the second quarter of 2020, which is roughly equivalent to the third-highest regional employment shock, this would be associated with 37.4%, 60.5%, and 26.5% increases in the total, female, and male suicide rates respectively in July 2020 compared with July 2019. These results are primarily correlational rather than causal due to the limitation of our data and research design, but our baseline findings are robust to several different model specifications.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Suicide / COVID-19 Type of study: Observational study Limits: Female / Humans / Male Language: English Journal: PLoS One Journal subject: Science / Medicine Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Journal.pone.0264829

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Suicide / COVID-19 Type of study: Observational study Limits: Female / Humans / Male Language: English Journal: PLoS One Journal subject: Science / Medicine Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Journal.pone.0264829