Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Guilherme Amorim
Author-Name: Diogo Britto
Author-Name: Alexandre Fonseca
Author-Name: Breno Sampaio
Title: Job Loss, Unemployment Insurance and Health: Evidence from Brazil
Abstract: We study the causal effects of job loss and unemployment insurance (UI) on hospitalization and mortality for Brazilian workers. We construct a novel dataset that merges millions of individual-level administrative records on employment, hospital discharges, and mortality for a period of 17 years. Using a difference-in-differences research design that compares laid-off workers from firms that experienced mass layoffs to similar workers in firms that did not, we find that job loss causes a 30% increase in the probability of male in-patient admission to public hospitals, and a 34% increase in the risk of male mortality. Our estimates are driven primarily by external causes and apply to both older and younger male workers. We find no effects on female outcomes, but children of both male and female workers are subjected to higher risks of hospitalization following their parent's job dismissal. Using a regression-discontinuity design that exploits variation in UI eligibility following job loss, we show that UI largely offsets the risk of hospitalization for older male workers. Our results indicate that governmental labor market policies can effectively mitigate a substantial portion of the adverse health impacts of job loss.
Classification-JEL:  I12, J63, J65
Keywords: job loss, unemployment insurance, hospitalization, mortality
Length: 61
Number: 22192
Creation-Date: 2022
File-URL: https://repec.unibocconi.it/baffic/baf/papers/cbafwp22192.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 1021
Handle: RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp22192