The financial situation of people with severe mental illness in an advanced welfare state

Marcus Eliason ()
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Marcus Eliason: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

No 2022:19, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: Schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorders are severe mental illnesses (SMIs) that not only entail great suffering for those affected but also major societal costs. In this study, I use administrative register data to provide a detailed picture of the economic situation of people with SMI in Sweden during a period of 10 years around first-time in-patient diagnosis. First-time in-patient diagnosis was associated with a considerable drop in earnings, which was largely compensated for by social transfers: mainly sickness and disability insurance. However, there were also large and increasing pre-diagnosis earnings gaps, relative to matched comparison groups, especially among those with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. This gap was to lesser extent compensated for by social transfers. Consequently, there was a permanent and increasing – due to lost earnings growth – income differential. Hence, findings in previous studies are confirmed: even in an advanced welfare state, people with SMI – especially those with schizophrenia – have an extremely weak position on the labour market and an equally difficult financial situation.

Keywords: Schizophrenia spectrum disorder; bipolar disorder; major depressive disorder; social insurances; labour market situation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I13 I14 J14 J65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2022-10-19
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-hea and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2022_019

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