Unemployment is linked to mental and physical health, and increased outpatient hospital visits, researchers at Academia Sinica and the University of Missouri said in a collaborative study that was published in this month’s Volume 238 of the Economic Letters journal.
The study used Ministry of Health and Welfare data from 2002 to 2017 to track income and National Health Insurance activity.
The anonymized data covered 29,500 individuals dismissed from their jobs, 9,700 who lost their jobs because of a manufacturing plant closure and 332,700 with stable incomes.
Photo: Taipei Times
Those who lost their job showed an average decrease in income of 67 percent, with most unable to recover within a decade, the data showed.
Most academics believe that people who lose their job return to a similar income level in a short time, said Yang Tzu-ting (楊子霆), the lead author of the paper, titled “Long-term effects of job displacement on earnings and mental health: Evidence from population-wide administrative data.”
However, the research showed that such assumptions are probably wrong, as people were unable to recover from the loss of income for up to a decade, Yang said.
The research used data from people who lost their jobs due to closures or layoffs, as those situations mean age or ability were not factors, he said.
People who lost their job tended to face mental health issues in the long term, with the data showing that they reported 15 to 16 percent more outpatient visits, he said, adding that they also tended to incur 52 to 67 percent more in medical costs.
The effects of mental stress are more apparent among low-income families, men and elderly people, Yang said.
The government policy of paying 60 percent of the salary for people who lose their job for six to nine months, depending on their age, should be boosted, Yang said.
People without a job should attend vocational training to increase their chances of finding work, he added.
Chang Chia-ming (張家銘), a doctor in the department of psychiatry at Chang Gang Memorial Hospital’s Linkou branch, said that most unemployed people are in the so-called “sandwich generation,” those who have elderly parents and also provide for their own children.
If they are unable to find a job, they are susceptible to self-doubt or blaming others, Chang said, adding that people who have been unemployed for a long time and are facing emotional stress should seek professional psychiatric help.
Unemployed people should try a new vocation, such as delivery work, rather than remain jobless, Chang said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS