The association of COVID-19 employment shocks with suicide and safety net use: An early-stage investigation.

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 experien

SUBMITTER: Ando M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8947077 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature