The personal and national costs of mental health conditions: impacts on income, taxes, government support payments due to lost labour force participation

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Deborah J Schofield¹  Emily J Callander¹  Rupendra N Shrestha²  Richard Percival³  Simon J Kelly³  Megan E Passey⁴ 

[1] NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre and School of Public Health, University of Sydney, 1450, Camperdown, NSW, Australia;NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, 1450, Camperdown, NSW, Australia;National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia;University Centre for Rural Health (North Coast), University of Sydney, 2480, Lismore, NSW, Australia;

关键词: Labour Force;    Labour Force Participation;    Mental Health Condition;    Early Retirement;    Chronic Health Condition;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-11-72

 received in 2010-12-09, accepted in 2011-04-28,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMental health conditions have the ability to interrupt an individual's ability to participate in the labour force, and this can have considerable follow on impacts to both the individual and the state.MethodCross-sectional analysis of the base population of Health&WealthMOD, a microsimulation model built on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers and STINMOD, an income and savings microsimulation model was used to quantify the personal cost of lost income and the cost to the state from lost income taxation, increased benefits payments and lost GDP as a result of early retirement due to mental health conditions in Australians aged 45-64 in 2009.ResultsIndividuals aged 45 to 64 years who have retired early due to depression personally have 73% lower income then their full time employed counterparts and those retired early due to other mental health conditions have 78% lower incomes. The national aggregate cost to government due to early retirement from these conditions equated to $278 million (£152.9 million) in lost income taxation revenue, $407 million (£223.9 million) in additional transfer payments and around $1.7 billion in GDP in 2009 alone.ConclusionsThe costs of mental health conditions to the individuals and the state are considerable. While individuals has to bear the economic costs of lost income in addition to the burden of the conditions itself, the impact on the state is loss of productivity from reduced workforce participation, lost income taxation revenue, and increased government support payments - in addition to direct health care costs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Schofield et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011