Unemployment has had a massive impact on suicide rates
According to a recent study, unemployment causes nine times more deaths across the globe than any other factor.
The recession has resulted in around 5,000 deaths in 63 countries, however between 2000 and 2011, there were 45,000 deaths associated with unemployment.
As a result, there needs to be more plans put in place to help people who are unemployed even in countries that are not currently going through a recession. In fact, it was found that there was a higher rate of suicides in the countries where there were more people in work.
According to lead author Dr Carlos Nordt, of Zurich University’s Psychiatric Hospital, losing the job is not the primary reason, it’s the lead up to it also- which is filled with uncertainty and this causes the suicide.
“Our findings reveal that the suicide rate increases six months before a rise in unemployment. What is more, our data suggests that not all job losses necessarily have an equal impact, as the effect on suicide risk appears to be stronger in countries where being out of work is uncommon.
“It is possible that an unexpected increase in the unemployment rate may trigger greater fears and insecurity than in countries with higher pre-crisis unemployment levels.”
Between the aforementioned years, the suicides related to unemployment rose between 20-30%. Of the 233,000 suicides that take place each year across 63 countries- one in five are a result of unemployment.
In 2007, suicide was attributed to 41,148 suicides and 46,131 in 2009, which implies that the 4,983 more suicides were down to the economic crisis in 2008.
The study also found that men and women were equally at risk of losing their job.
Nordt said that governments could help reduce suicide risks by investing “in active labour market policies that enhance the efficiency of labour markets [which] could help generate additional jobs and reduce the unemployment rate”.
Roger Webb and Navneet Kapur, from the University of Manchester in the UK said that suicides associated with the recession are likely to be “the tip of the iceberg” of a more complex spectrum of social and psychological problems.
“Many affected individuals who remain in work during these hard times encounter serious psychological stressors due to pernicious economic strains other than unemployment, including falling income, zero-hour contracting, job insecurity, bankruptcy, debt, and home repossession,” they wrote.
“Caution should therefore be exercised… [As well as death by suicide], we also require a better understanding of other psychosocial manifestations of economic adversity, including non-fatal self-harm, stress and anxiety, low mood, hopelessness, alcohol problems, anger, familial conflict and relationship breakdown. We also need to know how and why highly resilient individuals who experience the greatest levels of economic adversity manage to sustain favourable mental health and wellbeing.”
Source: The Guardian