Brewer Mike, Dang Thang, Tominey Emma
Resolution Foundation, United Kingdom.
INVEST Research Flagship Centre, University of Turku, Finland; University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
J Health Econ. 2024 Dec;98:102940. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2024.102940. Epub 2024 Nov 10.
The UK Universal Credit (UC) welfare reform simplified the benefits system whilst strongly incentivising a return to sustainable employment. Exploiting a staggered roll-out, we estimate the differential effect of unemployment under UC versus the former system on mental health. Groups with fewer insurance possibilities - single adults and lone parents - experience a mental health deterioration of 8.4-13.9% standard deviations which persists into the subsequent year. For couples, UC partially or fully mitigates mental health consequences of unemployment. Exploring mechanisms, for single adults and lone parents, reduced benefit income and strict job search requirements dominate any positive welfare effects of the reduced administrative burden of claiming benefits.
英国的普遍信贷（UC）福利改革简化了福利制度，同时大力激励人们回归可持续就业。利用分阶段推出的特点，我们估计了与前一制度相比，普遍信贷制度下的失业对心理健康的不同影响。保险可能性较低的群体——单身成年人及单亲家庭——心理健康状况恶化了8.4%-13.9%标准差，且这种情况持续到次年。对于夫妻来说，普遍信贷制度部分或完全减轻了失业对心理健康的影响。探究其中机制，对于单身成年人及单亲家庭而言，福利收入减少和严格的求职要求超过了申领福利行政负担减轻所带来的任何积极福利效应。
