Researchers urge job policy changes to cut suicide risk

Adelaide University researchers are calling for suicide prevention policy in Australia to put more weight on unemployment, insecure work and financial stress. Their final report argues that programs focused on individual treatment will miss major risks if they do not also address the social and economic pressures linked to suicidal distress.

The two-year Work and Unemployment: Vital to Effective Suicide Prevention project examined how government policy, employers, health care workers, suicide prevention networks and social security systems can affect suicide risk. The report is being released as the Australian government changes the JobSeeker system.

Suicide Prevention Australia says more than 3,000 Australians die by suicide each year. According to Australian Institute for Health and Welfare data cited by the researchers, people receiving unemployment payments are 2.8 times more likely to die by suicide, and more than 600 unemployed people die by suicide each year in Australia.

Associate Professor Toby Freeman, the project’s chief investigator at Adelaide University, said work and unemployment are major social determinants of suicide but are often left out of prevention efforts. He said the research found that parts of Australia’s welfare system, including low payments, mutual obligation requirements and punitive employment services, can add to financial strain, isolation and psychological distress.

The researchers also pointed to workplace conditions as a risk area. Freeman said job insecurity, psychosocial hazards, poor conditions and power imbalances at work can contribute to suicidal distress, although they are often treated as separate from suicide prevention.

Policy gap identified

The Adelaide University team reviewed employment, social security and health policies, examined existing research, analysed suicide coronial data and interviewed policymakers, employers and suicide prevention stakeholders across Australia.

Freeman said government suicide prevention strategies are paying more attention to social and economic causes of distress, while employment and social security policies often do not assess how they may affect suicide risk. He said mental health services remain vital, but clinical care alone cannot address problems such as job loss, housing stress, poverty and severe financial hardship.

The report says local Suicide Prevention Networks are contributing in communities around the country. The researchers said those networks’ role in addressing social causes of distress is not fully recognised or supported.

Recommended changes

The project sets out recommendations for governments, employers, suicide prevention organisations and health care providers. They include treating employment-related risk factors as part of suicide prevention, improving cooperation across sectors and giving more support to community-based networks.

• The researchers recommend that work and unemployment be formally recognised as suicide prevention concerns in employment and social security policy.
• They call for action on workplace risks, including insecure jobs, psychosocial hazards, poor conditions and power imbalances.
• The report recommends raising JobSeeker payments to a livable level and replacing punitive mutual obligations and workfare programs, including Work for the Dole, with more supportive employment services.
• It says employment programs for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities should be designed with those communities.
• The researchers urge broader prevention work on unemployment, poverty, housing insecurity and financial hardship, along with better training for health care professionals, employment services staff and workplaces.

Freeman said reducing suicide requires action before people reach crisis. He said Australia will miss prevention opportunities if unemployment, insecure work, financial insecurity and social exclusion remain outside the centre of suicide prevention policy.

This story draws on original reporting from Phys.org.