The causal effect of mental health on labor market outcomes: The case of stress-related mental disorders following a human-made disaster.

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.

Physical job demands in pregnancy and associated musculoskeletal health and employment outcomes: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: A decline in musculoskeletal health during pregnancy is an underappreciated adverse outcome of pregnancy that can have immediate and long-term health consequences. High physical job demands are known risk factors for nontraumatic musculoskeletal disorders in the general working population. Evidence from meta-analyses suggest that occupational lifting and prolonged standing during pregnancy may increase risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. This systematic review examined associations between occupational lifting or postural load in pregnancy and associated musculoskeletal disorders and related sequalae. DATA SOURCES: Five electronic databases (Medline, Embase, CINAHL, NIOSHTIC-2, and Ergonomic Abstracts) were searched from 1990 to July 2022 for studies in any language. A Web of Science snowball search was performed in December 2022. Reference lists were manually reviewed. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Eligible studies reported associations between occupational lifting or postural load and musculoskeletal health or sequelae (eg, employment outcomes) among pregnant and postpartum workers. METHODS: Data were extracted using a customized form to document study and sample characteristics; and details of exposures, outcomes, covariates, and analyses. Investigators independently assessed study quality for 7 risk-of-bias domains and overall utility, with discrepant ratings resolved through discussion. A narrative synthesis was conducted due to heterogeneity. RESULTS: Sixteen studies (11 cohort studies, 2 nested case-control studies, and 3 cross-sectional studies) from 8 countries were included (N=142,320 pregnant and N=1744 postpartum workers). Limited but consistent evidence with variable quality ratings, ranging from critical concern to high, suggests that pregnant workers exposed to heavy lifting (usually defined as ≥22 lbs or ≥10 kg) may be at increased risk of functionally limiting pelvic girdle pain and antenatal leave. Moreover, reports of dose-response relationships suggest graded risk levels according to lifting frequency, ranging from 21% to 45% for pelvic girdle pain and 58% to 202% for antenatal leave. Limited but consistent evidence also suggests that postural load increases the risk of employment cessation. CONCLUSION: Limited but consistent evidence suggests that pregnant workers exposed to heavy lifting and postural load are at increased risk of pelvic girdle pain and employment cessation. Job accommodations to reduce exposure levels may promote safe sustainable employment for pregnant workers.

Globalization, Fertility, and Marital Behavior in a Lowest-Low Fertility Setting.

Declines in marriage and fertility rates in many developed countries have fostered research debate and increasing policy attention. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we analyze the effects of exposure to globalization on fertility and marital behavior in Germany, which was a lowest-low fertility setting until recently. We find that exposure to greater import competition from Eastern Europe led to worse labor market outcomes and lower fertility rates. In contrast, workers in industries that benefited from increased exports had better employment prospects and higher fertility. These effects are driven by low-educated individuals, married men, and full-time workers and reflect changes in the likelihood of having any child (the extensive margin). We find evidence of some fertility postponement and significant effects on completed fertility, but we see little evidence of a significant impact on marital behavior. Our results inform the public debate on fertility rates in settings with lowest-low fertility, such as Germany, during the period under investigation.

The Contradictions of Liminal Legality: Economic Attainment and Civic Engagement of Central American Immigrants on Temporary Protected Status.

This study examines how Temporary Protected Status (TPS) may shape immigrants' integration trajectories. Building on core themes identified in the immigrant incorporation scholarship, it investigates whether associations of educational attainment with labor market outcomes and with civic participation, which are well established in the general population, hold for immigrants who live in the "liminal legality" of TPS. Conducted in 2016 in five U.S. metropolitan areas, the study is based on a unique survey of Salvadoran and Honduran TPS holders, the majority of immigrants on this status. The analyses find that TPS holders with higher levels of educational attainment do not derive commensurate significant occupational or earnings premiums from their education. In contrast, the analysis of the relationship between educational attainment and civic engagement detects a positive association: more educated TPS holders are more likely to be members of community organizations and to participate in voluntary community service, compared to their less educated counterparts. These findings illustrate the contradictions inherent to TPS as it may hinder certain aspects of immigrant integration but not others. This examination contributes to our understanding of the implications of immigrants' legal statuses and of immigration law and policy for key aspects of immigrant integration trajectories.

Long-term labor market returns to upper secondary school track choice: Leveraging idiosyncratic variation in peers' choices.

Vocational education and training (VET) is theorized to play a dual role for inequality of labor market outcomes: the role of a safety net and the role of socioeconomic diversion. In this paper, we test these hypotheses by examining the long-term labor market returns to track choice in upper secondary education in Denmark using an instrumental variable approach that relies on random variation in school peers' educational decisions. We report two main findings. First, VET diverts students on the margin to the academic track away from higher-status but not higher-paying occupations. Second, VET protects students on the margin to leaving school from risks of non-employment and unskilled work, also leading to higher earnings. These results suggest that in countries with a highly compressed wage structure, a strong VET system benefits students unlikely to continue to college, while causing few adverse consequences for students on the margin to choosing academic education.

Gender and Racial Discrimination in Hiring Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a Field Experiment of Accountants, 2018-2020.

In this article, we ask whether macro-level changes during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic relate to changes in the levels of discrimination against women and Black job-seekers at the point of hire. We develop three main hypotheses: that discrimination against women and Black job-seekers increases due to a reduction in labor demand; that discrimination against women decreases due to the reduced supply of women employees and applicants; and that discrimination against Black job-seekers decreases due to increased attention toward racial inequities associated with the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020. We test these hypotheses using a correspondence audit study collected over two periods, before and during the early COVID-19 pandemic, for one professional occupation: accountants. We find that White women experience a positive change in callbacks during the pandemic, being preferred over White men, and this change is concentrated in geographic areas that experienced relatively larger decreases in women's labor supply. Black women experience discrimination pre-pandemic but receive similar callbacks to White men during the pandemic. In contrast to both White and Black women, discrimination against Black men is persistent before and during the pandemic. Our findings are consistent with the prediction of gender-specific changes in labor supply being associated with gender-specific changes in hiring discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic. More broadly, our study shows how hiring decision-making is related to macro-level labor market processes.

The effect of accidents on labor market outcomes: Evidence from Chile.

We estimate the causal effect of accidents on employment and earnings among Chilean men using event study methods and monthly administrative data. An accident of any type reduces the probability of being employed by 8.4 percentage points in the first year, by 11.2 percentage points in the second year, and by 14.8 percentage points in the third year after the accident. On average, over the three years after the accident, employment declines by 14%, relative to the pre-accident mean. In addition, accidents reduce monthly earnings by around 11% in the first year, 17% in the second year, and 22% in the third year after the accident. On average, monthly earnings fall by 16%, relative to the pre-accident average. Thus, we estimate persistent and increasing labor market effects of accidents over time. These effects vary by individuals' age, education, and industry and by severity of the accident. Our findings imply that the economic consequences of health shocks go beyond direct medical expenses.

The effects of childhood ADHD on adult labor market outcomes.

Although several types of mental illness, including substance abuse disorders, have been linked with poor labor market outcomes, no current research has been able to examine the effects of childhood attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Because ADHD has become one of the most prevalent childhood mental conditions, it is useful to understand the full set of consequences of the illness. This article uses a longitudinal national sample, including sibling pairs, to show the important labor market outcome consequences of ADHD. The employment reduction is between 10 and 14 percentage points, the earnings reduction is approximately 33%, and the increase in social assistance is 15 points, figures that are larger than many estimates of the Black people/White people earnings gap and the gender earnings gap. A small share of the link is explained by educational attainments and co-morbid health conditions and behaviors. The results also show important differences in labor market consequences by family background and age of onset. These findings, along with similar research showing that ADHD is linked with poor education outcomes and adult crime, suggest the importance of treating childhood ADHD to foster human capital.

Exposure to Islamophobia: The impacts of an increased risk of bullying victimization on human capital.

We use the shock caused by terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, to study the short- and long-term consequences of exposure to Islamophobia in high-school-aged youths. Our estimates show an immediate sharp increase in rates of identity-based bullying against Arab/Muslim youths relative to youths of other ethnic groups during the years 2001-2003. We also find exposure to Islamophobia increased school dropout rates by 4.11% among US-born male youths of Arab-Muslim origin, which is a large effect from a baseline of 4.6% of school dropout rate in the affected population. In the long term, however, we find no significant effect on educational attainment among the affected population. The data suggest Arab-Muslim male youths born in 1989 were 8.34% more likely to resort to GED tests as a means of obtaining high school credentials after the attacks. We find full-time male workers born in 1984 earn 12.8% less than similar workers who were unexposed to Islamophobia. Moreover, full-time male Arab-Muslim workers born between 1983 and 1985 are between 9% and 12.5% more likely to be in the first quintile of the state-of-residence-year-wage distribution than similar workers who were not exposed to Islamophobia.

Feeding for a brighter future: The long-term labor market consequences of school meals in rural China.

This study examines the impacts of childhood exposure to the Nutrition Improvement Program (NIP), which provides free school meals to eligible students in rural China, on adult labor market outcomes. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies, we employ a cohort difference-in-differences (DID) design to identify the NIP's long-term effects. The results show that early-life exposure to the NIP has increased adulthood employment probability by 6.5 percentage points. Childhood exposure to the NIP has also resulted in an average increase of 12.4% in adult hourly wages and 10.3% in annual income. These findings remain robust to a battery of validity checks. Our heterogeneous analysis demonstrates that these effects are more pronounced among those who are females and from households with low socioeconomic status. Further, we find that exposure to the NIP yields lasting beneficial effects on adult education attainment, cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as well as health and health behaviors. This suggests that improvements in human capital accumulation and health behaviors are potential mechanisms contributing to the long-term labor market consequences of the NIP. Our study sheds light on the enduring impacts of school-based nutrition intervention on individuals' economic well-being in developing countries.

Depression and labor supply: Evidence from the Netherlands.

We estimate the relationship between depression and labor-market outcomes using data from the Longitudinal Internet studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) panel (2008 - 2018) from the Netherlands. The paper provides three main findings. First, depression is not associated with women's labor market participation, but it is associated with their likelihood of having paid employment (conditional on being in the labor force). Second, depression is associated with men's labor force participation, likelihood of having paid employment and likelihood of working full time. Third, severity of depression matters. More severe symptoms are associated with more adverse labor-market outcomes. In addition, we examine the mechanism behind the relationship between depression and labor market outcomes. We find that happiness, life satisfaction, and pessimistic beliefs about the future are partially mediating the effects.

Heterogeneity in the Returns to Credits for Public Two-Year College Entrants.

Public two-year colleges offer an entry point to postsecondary education for many Americans who might otherwise forgo college. Most students leave college without a credential. A growing body of research examines the returns to higher education among two-year college entrants but primarily focuses on returns to credentials. This study examines the returns to different types of credits, including academic, technical, and developmental credits. In a series of individual fixed effects models, we use state administrative data following a population of public two-year college entrants to understand which college credits yield the greatest returns and how returns to credits vary across degree attainment. Our findings illustrate that average estimates of the returns to credits obscure varied patterns of returns among two-year college students, where sub-baccalaureate credential recipients appear to experience different returns to academic and technical credits compared with their peers.

The Long-Run Economic Consequences of Iodine Supplementation.

We present evidence on the impacts of a large-scale iodine supplementation program in Tanzania on individuals' long-term economic outcomes. Exploiting the timing and location of the intervention, we document that in utero exposure to the program increased completed years of education and income scores in adulthood. We find no increase in total employment, but a significant change in the occupational structure. Cohorts exposed to the program are less likely to work in agricultural self-employment and more likely to hold skilled jobs that typically demand higher levels of education. Together, these results demonstrate that iodine deficiency can have long-run implications for occupational choices and labor market incomes in low-income regions.

Analysis of the COVID-19 impacts on employment and unemployment across the multi-dimensional social disadvantaged areas.

This is the study of economic impacts in the context of social disadvantage. It specifically considers economic conditions in regions with pre-existing inequalities and examines labor market outcomes in already socially vulnerable areas. The economic outcomes remain relatively unexplored by the studies on the COVID-19 impacts. To fill the gap, we study the relationship between the pandemic-caused economic recession and vulnerable communities in the unprecedented times. More marginalized regions may have broader economic damages related to the pandemic. First, based on a literature review, we delineate areas with high social disadvantage. These areas have multiple factors associated with various dimensions of vulnerability which existed pre-COVID-19. We term these places "multi-dimensional social disadvantaged areas". Second, we compare employment and unemployment rates between areas with high and low disadvantage. We integrate geospatial science with the exploration of social factors associated with disadvantage across counties in Tennessee which is part of coronavirus "red zone" states of the US southern Sunbelt region. We disagree with a misleading label of COVID-19 as the "great equalizer". During COVID-19, marginalized regions experience disproportionate economic impacts. The negative effect of social disadvantage on pandemic-caused economic outcomes is supported by several lines of evidence. We find that both urban and rural areas may be vulnerable to the broad social and economic damages. The study contributes to current research on economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and social distributions of economic vulnerability. The results can help inform post-COVID recovery interventions strategies to reduce COVID-19-related economic vulnerability burdens.

Delayed Time-to-Degree and Post-college Earnings.

Increasingly, undergraduates take more than 4 years to complete a baccalaureate, a situation widely perceived as a waste of time and money, for students, their families, and taxpayers. We first identify several phenomena that result in a longer time to degree and document the frequency of such delays. Then, using nationally representative data from the Baccalaureate & Beyond 1993-2003 surveys, we estimate the relationship between delayed time-to-degree and later employment and postcollege earnings, using negative binomial hurdle models. We find that delayed time-to-degree is not related to employment chances but is associated with lower post-college earnings: averaging 8-15%, depending on the length of delay. This average disadvantage is in line with signaling theory. The unique contribution of this study is its thorough analysis of different types of delay, as caused by stopping out and employment. Contrary to the popular assumption that delay is a waste of college resources or a student's time, we find that delayed graduation in combination with working full-time during college has no negative relationship to post-college earnings. We discuss the time-investment trade-offs and the implications for the applicability of human capital theory to college graduation delays.

ADHD and later-life labor market outcomes in the United States.

This study analyzes the relation between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and later-life labor market outcomes in the United States and whether these relationships are mediated by educational attainment. To overcome endogeneity concerns in the estimation of these relationships, we exploit the polygenic risk score (PRS) for ADHD in a cohort where the diagnosis of and treatment for ADHD were generally not available. We find that an increase in the PRS for ADHD reduces the likelihood of employment, individual income, and household wealth. Moreover, it increases the likelihood of receiving social security disability benefits, unemployment or worker compensation, and other governmental transfers. We provide evidence that educational attainment mediates these relationships to a considerable extent (14-58%).

Educational Attainment and Nonwage Labor Market Returns in the United States.

Although decades of research highlight the impact of schooling on earnings, less evidence exists regarding other employment outcomes. Nonwage labor market returns to education are important in the United States, where health insurance and retirement income are typically tied to employment. Using longitudinal, nationally representative data, we examine the role of educational attainment in predicting nonwage employment outcomes and control for a host of individual and institutional measures. Even after controlling for individual and institutional characteristics, results indicate that educational attainment predicts employment and markers of "good" jobs, like access to employer-provided health and dental insurances, retirement plans, and paid leave. Furthermore, by delineating between various subbaccalaureate levels of college attainment, our results illustrate the complex variation in returns to college for those who did not complete a 4-year degree.

Migrant Women's Economic Success in Russia: Objective Reality and Subjective Assessment.

This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the outcomes of labor migration by focusing on the effects of migrant legal status on the economic and perceptual measures of migration success. To study the effects of legal status, we use a sample of Central Asian migrant women who work in Russia and of their native counterparts who occupy the same positions on the labor market. Similar to the studies in the developed settings, we find that a temporary legal status is associated with an earnings penalty and that permanent legal status corrects this earning disparity. We also find that both temporary and permanent migrant status is positively associated with perceptions of pay inequality but that, irrespective of these perceptions, both types of migrants are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs than natives. We interpret these findings within the legal and social context of migrant economic incorporation in Russia and relate them to the findings from other migrant-receiving settings.

The Effect of the Health Insurance Mandate on Labor Market Activity and Time Allocation: Evidence from the Federal Dependent Coverage Provision.

The primary goal of the federal dependent coverage mandate was to increase health insurance coverage among young adults, the group with the lowest prevalence of health insurance coverage. To understand the full impacts of the federal dependent coverage mandate, it is important to evaluate how the mandate affects labor market activities and time spent away from work among young adults. Using data from the Consumer Population Survey (CPS) and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and implementing a difference-in-differences framework, we find: (1) Young adults substitute employer sponsored insurance for dependent coverage, (2) Affected individuals reduce their work time and switch from full- to part-time employment, and (3) The additional time from reduced labor market activity is reallocated towards more time spent on leisure activities, mainly watching television. The effects of the mandate on labor market activities are stronger in later years. Furthermore, we show that young adults do not increase the time they spend on activities that could enhance their human capital such as education and health, which reemphasizes potential unintended consequences of the mandate. These findings suggest that future work is necessary to fully understand the overall welfare effects of the policy.