Leaving active employment in shrinking industries may increase the risk of death due to suicide or drug overdose.
Working with Ellen Eisen, ScD at the University of California, Berkeley, we used an iconic occupational cohort database to explore the effect of the changing job climate for autoworkers and suicide, overdose, and alcoholic liver disease deaths.
US suicide and overdose mortality rates are rising for working-age adults with no college education. Manufacturing has been declining in the US for decades, as precarious work has been increasing. Economic contraction and job loss have been linked to suicide, depression and substance abuse. This study examined individual-level data from a large established cohort study of autoworkers in Michigan followed from 1970 to 2015, covering the recent period of decline in the US automobile industry. We found that suicide was associated with employment status; the hazard rate was 16 times higher among inactive workers who had terminated employment. When compared to rate among retirees, the rate of suicide combined with overdose was elevated for workers who left work younger, when leaving was less likely to be voluntary.