The Great Recession and Employment: The Intersection of Mental Health, Gender and Race

• In Event: 4423 - Developing and Testing Creative Synergies between the Sociology of Mental Health and Organizations, Occupations, and Work

Abstract

Background: The objectives of the paper are twofold: 1) To examine the impact of the Great Recession in the US on labor force participation and employment for persons with mental health problems (moderate or serious) compared to their counterparts with other types of disability or no disability; and 2) To examine the intersection of social characteristics with mental and physical disabilities in shaping labor force participation and unemployment following a recession.

Methods: Data come from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), from 1999 to 2015. Our analytic sample consisted of working age adults ages 18-64 (N=398,897). We first estimated a logistic regression model with recessionary period, mental health and disability status as the main predictors, controlling for sociodemographics. The model was estimated separately by economic context (pre-recession years 1999-2006, recession years 2007-2010, and post-recession years 2011-2015). We computed interactions to determine whether mental health and disability status interact with gender or race to produce differing outcomes based on economic contexts.

Results: Persons with severe mental illness are more likely to be out of the labor force (69%) compared to people with moderate psychiatric problems (48%), other types of disability (32.2%) or persons with no disability (15.8%). Risk of unemployment increased with the great recession, but the impact was greatest for persons with disabilities compared to persons without disabilities. Moreover, among persons with disability, the increase in risk of unemployment was greater for persons with mental health problems. Among persons with mental health problems, the predicted probability of being unemployed continued to climb substantially even through the recovery period.

Discussion: The results highlight persistent difficulties in securing full participation in employment among persons with disabilities, especially those related to mental health. Risks of unemployment are particularly elevated among this population in times of economic hardship such as the great recession.

Authors

• Donna D. McAlpine, University of Minnesota

• Sirry Alang, Lehigh University