Gender Differences in Psychiatric Disorders: Effects on Labor Market Outcomes

Objective: Many studies in labor market analysis have established significant gender differences in labor market behavior. Differences in prevalence rates of various types of mental disorders by gender are also well established. Little is known, however, about gender differences in the labor market effects of specific mental illnesses. Methods: Using a sample of 2210 men and 2362 women between the ages of 18 and 54 drawn from respondents to the National Comorbidity Survey, we tested whether adults with a psychiatric disorder have a lower probability of working, lower weekly working hours, and lower labor earnings than individuals without these disorders, other things being equal. We used several types of multivariate analysis to test our hypotheses: Logistic, Ordinary Least Squares, and Tobit regression techniques, as well as instrumental-variable versions of these techniques (constructed in a two-stage procedure with the use of parental history of mental illness). Results: Our findings suggest that for women, Anxiety disorders occurring within the past 12 months reduce the probability of working by 42%, reduce hours worked in the average week by almost 27 hours, and decrease earnings by $17,409 per year. Drug disorders occurring within the past 12 months reduce hours worked in the average week by 18 hours. We find the smaller magnitudes for anxiety but bigger effects of drug dependence &/or abuse occurring over a woman’s lifetime, but not necessarily within the past 12 months. For men, we find that bipolar &/or mania disorders accruing within the past 12 months reduce the probability of working by 14%, reduce hours of work by21, and decrease earnings by $27,964. Alcohol dependence&/or abuse within the past 12 months reduce the probability of working by 10%, and conditioning on working, this disorder reduce hours of worked by 12 hours, and decrease earnings by almost $16,646 per year. We find smaller negative effect of bipolar &/or mania and alcohol disorders over the lifetime on men’s labor market outcomes. Surprisingly, we find a positive effect of depression and alcohol disorders on the women’s labor market outcomes and a positive effect of drug disorders on men’s average weekly hours of work. In aggregate, we find a bigger negative effect of psychiatric disorders on women’s labor supply and earnings than men. Discussion: Our findings suggest that the negative impact of mental illness on labor market outcomes differs greatly by gender and the type of labor market outcomes. Our findings provide useful information to researchers, policy makers, and practitioners interested in mitigating the costs endured by individuals especially, women suffering with mental illness.