| Summary: | In this dissertation, we investigate the impact of unemployment on suicide
mortality and identify how Labour Market Policies (LMPs) might reduce adverse
effects. Using data for the European Union countries during 2000-2017, we create
the suicide rate for the population aged 15 to 64 years and estimate fixed-effects
regression models taking additional factors of suicidal behavior into account.
Our results show that there is a positive relationship between unemployment and
suicide mortality. Specifically, we delineate multiple manifest and latent pathways
through which unemployment escalates the risk of suicide. We also find that
expenditures on Passive Labour Market Policies (PLMPs) do not alter the effect
of unemployment on suicide rates. However, spending on Active Labour Market
Policies (ALMPs) above 0.4% of GDP substantially moderates the association
between unemployment and suicide deaths. In particular, we find that Training
programs are an effective type of ALMPs in buffering the influence of unemployment on suicide rates. These results also hold when we perform a
robustness analysis using the suicide rate in the 15-84 years age group. Overall,
our results imply that provisions of generous unemployment benefits through
PLMPs render countries exposed to the harmful effects of unemployment, while
workfare programs of ALMPs operate as safety nets from resorting to suicide.
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