IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-05054594.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Recurrent major depression, employment and transitions to unemployment and disability benefits

Author

Listed:
  • Quentin Cau
  • Coralie Gandré

    (Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics (IRDES), Paris, France)

  • Pascale Lengagne

    (Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics (IRDES), Paris, France)

Abstract

This study assesses the effects of recurrent major depression on employment and transitions to unemployment and disability benefits. Examining this issue is essential for designing timely interventions aimed to sustain individuals' employment. We rely on register data of a sample of individuals initially employed-a 2% sample of employees representative of French private-sector employees-followed up to eight years before and eight years after the year of diagnosis, aged between 20 and 60 years, over the period 2000-2015. We estimate that recurrent major depression persistently decreases the likelihood of being employed by 35 percentage points and annual earnings by 51%, and leads to increase the probability of long absence by 47 percentage points and the probability of permanent disability benefit recipiency by 33 percentage points. The effect sizes are similar between men and women. We find differences between age groups. For young and middle-aged individuals, recurrent major depression implies a decrease in employment rates, an increase in unemployment benefit rates and a persistent increase in disability benefit recipiency rates. Many young ill individuals remain attached to the labor market but experience unemployment and a large decline in annual earnings. For older individuals, recurrent major depression leads to a larger decrease in employment rates and a greater increase in disability benefit recipiency rates, compared to younger individuals. We conclude that differentiated policies tailored to age groups might be developed to support the employment of individuals with recurrent major depression.

Suggested Citation

  • Quentin Cau & Coralie Gandré & Pascale Lengagne, 2025. "Recurrent major depression, employment and transitions to unemployment and disability benefits," Post-Print hal-05054594, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05054594
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118056
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05054594v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-05054594v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118056?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Souvik Banerjee & Pinka Chatterji & Kajal Lahiri, 2017. "Effects of Psychiatric Disorders on Labor Market Outcomes: A Latent Variable Approach Using Multiple Clinical Indicators," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 184-205, February.
    2. Diby, Akissi S. & Lengagne, Pascale & Regaert, Camille, 2021. "Employment Vulnerability of People With Severe Mental Illness," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 269-275.
    3. Kamila Cygan‐Rehm & Daniel Kuehnle & Michael Oberfichtner, 2017. "Bounding the causal effect of unemployment on mental health: Nonparametric evidence from four countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1844-1861, December.
    4. Iacus, Stefano M. & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2011. "Multivariate Matching Methods That Are Monotonic Imbalance Bounding," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 106(493), pages 345-361.
    5. Paul Frijters & David W. Johnston & Michael A. Shields, 2014. "The Effect Of Mental Health On Employment: Evidence From Australian Panel Data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(9), pages 1058-1071, September.
    6. Trevisan, Elisabetta & Zantomio, Francesca, 2016. "The impact of acute health shocks on the labour supply of older workers: Evidence from sixteen European countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 171-185.
    7. Petri Böckerman & Pekka Ilmakunnas, 2009. "Unemployment and self‐assessed health: evidence from panel data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 161-179, February.
    8. Bubonya, Melisa & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Ribar, David C., 2019. "The reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and employment status," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 96-106.
    9. Pilar García-Gómez & Hans van Kippersluis & Owen O’Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2013. "Long-Term and Spillover Effects of Health Shocks on Employment and Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(4), pages 873-909.
    10. Moser, Petra & Biasi, Barbara & Dahl, Michael S, 2021. "Career Effects of Mental Health," CEPR Discussion Papers 16401, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Lizhong Peng & Chad D. Meyerhoefer & Samuel H. Zuvekas, 2016. "The Short‐Term Effect of Depressive Symptoms on Labor Market Outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(10), pages 1223-1238, October.
    12. Hullegie, Patrick & Koning, Pierre, 2018. "How disability insurance reforms change the consequences of health shocks on income and employment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 134-146.
    13. Sung‐Hee Jeon, 2017. "The Long‐Term Effects of Cancer on Employment and Earnings," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(5), pages 671-684, May.
    14. Kerwin Kofi Charles, 2003. "The Longitudinal Structure of Earnings Losses among Work-Limited Disabled Workers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(3).
    15. Buyi Wang & Richard Frank & Sherry Glied, 2023. "Lasting scars: The impact of depression in early adulthood on subsequent labor market outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2694-2708, December.
    16. Eliason, Marcus, 2023. "The financial situation before and after first-time psychiatric in-patient diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorder," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    17. Simonetti, Irene & Belloni, Michele & Farina, Elena & Zantomio, Francesca, 2022. "Labour market institutions and long term adjustments to health shocks: Evidence from Italian administrative records," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emmanuel Duguet & Christine Le Clainche, 2020. "The Socioeconomic and Gender Impacts of Health Events on Employment Transitions in France: A Panel Data Study," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 449-483.
    2. David Candon, 2019. "The joint effect of health shocks and eligibility for social security on labor supply," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(7), pages 969-988, September.
    3. Andrew M. Jones & Nigel Rice & Francesca Zantomio, 2016. "Acute health shocks and labour market outcomes," Working Papers 2016:09, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    4. Ringdal, Charlotte & Rootjes, Frank, 2022. "Depression and labor supply: Evidence from the Netherlands," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    5. Belloni, Michele & Simonetti, Irene & Zantomio, Francesca, 2019. "Long-run effects of health shocks in a highly regulated labour market," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201922, University of Turin.
    6. Eliason, Marcus, 2023. "The financial situation before and after first-time psychiatric in-patient diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorder," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    7. Simonetti, Irene & Belloni, Michele & Farina, Elena & Zantomio, Francesca, 2022. "Labour market institutions and long term adjustments to health shocks: Evidence from Italian administrative records," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Henri Salokangas, 2021. "Exploring the labor market consequences of psychiatric disorders: An event study approach," Discussion Papers 148, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    9. Germinario, Giuseppe & Amin, Vikesh & Flores, Carlos A. & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso, 2022. "What can we learn about the effect of mental health on labor market outcomes under weak assumptions? Evidence from the NLSY79," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Jones, Andrew M. & Rice, Nigel & Zantomio, Francesca, 2020. "Acute health shocks and labour market outcomes: Evidence from the post crash era," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    11. Jeon, Sung-Hee & Pohl, R. Vincent, 2019. "Medical innovation, education, and labor market outcomes of cancer patients," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Thomas Barnay, 2016. "Health, work and working conditions: a review of the European economic literature," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(6), pages 693-709, July.
    13. Macchioni Giaquinto, Annarita & Jones, Andrew M. & Rice, Nigel & Zantomio, Francesca, 2021. "Labour supply and informal care responses to health shocks within couples: evidence from the UKHLS," GLO Discussion Paper Series 806, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Nicholas A. Jolly & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2023. "Health shocks and spousal labor supply: an international perspective," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 973-1004, April.
    15. Krekel, Christian & Srisuma, Sorawoot, 2024. "Talking Therapy: Impacts of a Nationwide Mental Health Service in England," IZA Discussion Papers 16839, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Mark L Bryan & Nigel Rice & Jennifer Roberts & Cristina Sechel, 2022. "Mental Health and Employment: A Bounding Approach Using Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(5), pages 1018-1051, October.
    17. Lennon, Conor, 2021. "Are the costs of employer-sponsored health insurance passed on to workers at the individual level?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    18. Vincenzo Carrieri & Andrew M. Jones & Francesco Principe, 2020. "Productivity Shocks and Labour Market Outcomes for Top Earners: Evidence from Italian Serie A," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(3), pages 549-576, June.
    19. Sylvia Dixon, 2015. "The Employment and Income Effects of Eight Chronic and Acute Health Conditions," Treasury Working Paper Series 15/15, New Zealand Treasury.
    20. Terhi Maczulskij & Petri Böckerman, 2019. "Harsh times: do stressors lead to labor market losses?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(3), pages 357-373, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05054594. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.