Job loss is bad for your health – Swedish evidence on cause-specific hospitalization following involuntary job loss

This paper examines the impact of job loss on a number of non-fatal health events, which are nonetheless severe enough to require hospital in-patient care. We focus on job loss due only to establishment closures, as this reduces the problem of distinguishing between causation and selection. Using linked employee–employer register data, we identify the job losses due to all establishment closures in Sweden in 1987 or 1988. During a subsequent 12-year period, we find that job loss significantly increases the risk of hospitalization due to alcohol-related conditions, among both men and women, and due to traffic accidents and self-harm, among men only. We find no evidence, however, that job loss increased the risk of severe cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction or stroke.