Working Paper: NBER ID: w11893
Authors: Pinka Chatterji; Margarita Alegria; Mingshan Lu; David Takeuchi
Abstract: This paper investigates to what extent psychiatric disorders and mental distress affect labor market outcomes among ethnic minorities of Latino and Asian descent, most of whom are immigrants. Using data from the National Latino and Asian American Study, we examine the labor market effects of meeting diagnostic criteria for any psychiatric disorder in the past 12 months as well as the effects of psychiatric distress in the past year. Among Latinos, psychiatric disorders and mental distress are associated with detrimental effects on employment and absenteeism, similar to effects found in previous analyses of mostly white, American born populations. Among Asians, we find mixed evidence that psychiatric disorders and mental distress detract from labor market outcomes.
Keywords: psychiatric disorders; labor market outcomes; Latino; Asian Americans; mental health
JEL Codes: I1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Recent psychiatric disorder (I12) | Employment probability (Latino males) (J79) |
| Recent psychiatric disorder (I12) | Employment probability (Latino females) (J79) |
| Recent psychiatric disorder (I12) | Employment probability (Asian males) (J79) |
| Recent psychiatric disorder (I12) | Work absence (Latino males) (J22) |
| Recent psychiatric disorder (I12) | Work absence (Latino females) (J22) |
| Employment factors (J23) | Mental distress (I31) |