IT IS NOT only the great and the good who are driven to depression by the thought of unemployment. A recent study from New Zealand which looked at unemployment in people aged between 45 and 64 showed that men were two to three times more likely to commit suicide
if they were out of work. Those off work because they were chronically sick were excluded from the survey, as in New Zealand such people are classified as “non-active”.
The survey, which covered two million adults, found few suicides among women in that age group — but even in the small number of cases where women did take their own lives, there was an association with unemployment. This was irrespective of other socioeconomic factors.
The authors of the report, which is published in the current issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, said that mental illness seemed to be a factor in only half the increased number of cases of suicide.
Men’s status is too frequently defined by their work, and their self-regard is usually related to their sense of achievement. If this is taken away, their feelings of sense, worth and identity can be confused, if not destroyed.