Earlier this month, I looked at preliminary reports showing there has been an uptick in the number of suicides with the recession.
Now there is further confirmation with a report from The Wall Street Journal showing that 19 of the largest states reporting a 2.3% increase in suicides. In Florida, they’re up 6%, in Georgia they are up 2.3%, and in North Carolina, up 7.8%.
The problem is that the numbers are not entirely clear. As the WSJ says, official data on suicides in the US lag, and a 2008 national tally isn’t yet available. But then, it points out that there was a similar story during the Great Depression when the US recorded 15.3 suicides per 100,000 people in 1929, rising to 17 in 1930 and 18.6 in 1932.
Earlier this year, the Lancet reported a study by experts at Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine showing that a 3% rise in unemployment was linked with a 2.7% rise in heart attacks among men aged 30-44 and increases of 2.4% in murders and suicides in people under the age of 64.
With unemployment expected to keep growing next year, the picture is going to get worse.
The unanswered question is whether employers might face compensation claims from families who have lost loved ones. If this continues, many might start asking that question.
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