Layoff experience in adulthood and all-cause mortality among US adults, 1979-2022

TL;DR

This study finds that being laid off in adulthood is linked to higher mortality rates over the next decade.

Contribution

The study quantifies the long-term mortality risk associated with cumulative layoff experiences in working-age adults.

Findings

Individuals with one layoff had 1.23 times higher mortality risk compared to those never laid off.

Those with two or more layoffs had 1.30 times higher mortality risk.

Layoff experience contributed to excess deaths and years of potential life lost.

Abstract

Involuntary job loss due to layoffs is increasingly common in the US, while its association with all-cause mortality remains inconclusive. We investigated the association between cumulative layoff experience over 33 peak-working years in adulthood and mortality during the subsequent 10 years. Data were from 7,234 working-age adults (aged 16+) in National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Cumulative layoff experience was operationalized as the number of jobs ending in a layoff from 1979-2012: never (n = 5,183), one (n = 1,514), and ≥two layoffs (n = 537). Compared to never being laid-off (n = 5,183), layoff experience contributed to 18.71 (95% CI: 1.09-36.23) and 32.61 (95% CI: 2.66-62.56) excess deaths per 10,000 person-years among participants with one and ≥two layoffs. These estimates correspond to 0.27 and 0.39 excess years of potential life lost per person for one and ≥two layoff groups. In the fully adjusted Cox proportional hazards model, compared to those with no layoffs, individuals with one and ≥two layoffs had 1.23 (95% CI: 1.00 to 1.51) and 1.30 times (95% CI: 0.96 to 1.77) higher hazards of death from 2012-2022. The observed association did not statistically differ by timing of layoffs, sex/gender, and race/ethnicity. Findings suggest job insecurity may be an important determinant of life expectancy.