The Impact of Job Loss on Self-injury Mortality in a Cohort of Autoworkers: Application of a Novel Causal Approach

Abstract

Background: Recent increases in national rates of suicide and fatal overdose have been linked to a deterioration of economic and social stability. The American auto industry experienced comparable pressures beginning in the 1980s with the emergence of a competitive global market.

Methods: Using the United Autoworkers-General Motors (GM) cohort as a case study, we examine the impact of employment loss on these self-injury mortality events. For 29,538 autoworkers employed on or after 1 January 1970, we apply incremental propensity score interventions, a novel causal inference approach, to examine how proportional shifts in the odds of leaving active GM employment affect the cumulative incidence of self-injury mortality.

Results: Cumulative incidence of self-injury mortality was 0.87% (255 cases) at the observed odds of leaving active GM employment (δ = 1) over a 45-year period. A 10% decrease in the odds of leaving active GM employment (δ = 0.9) results in an estimated 8% drop in self-injury mortality (234 cases) while a 10% increase (δ = 1.1) results in a 19% increase in self-injury mortality (303 cases).

Conclusions: These results are consistent with the hypothesis that leaving active employment at GM increases the risk of death due to suicide or drug overdose.