Is Delayed Mental Health Treatment Detrimental to Employment?

Prudon, Roger (2025) Is Delayed Mental Health Treatment Detrimental to Employment? The Review of Economics and Statistics. pp. 1-46. ISSN 0034-6535

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Abstract

Waiting times for mental health treatment have been increasing in many countries. Using administrative data on all inhabitants of the Netherlands and exploiting exogenous variation at the municipality level, I find that these waiting times have substantial repercussions on labor market outcomes for at least eight years after the start of treatment. A one-month (0.5 SD) increase in waiting time decreases the probability of employment by two percentage points. Vulnerable groups with lower educational attainment or a migration background are especially affected given that the impact of waiting time is larger for them and their average waiting time is longer.