劳动力市场参与的心理障碍：来自加纳农村地区的证据

中文摘要

心理健康问题与劳动力市场参与率下降密切相关，但此类问题影响劳动供给的内在渠道仍不明确。我们开展了一项两阶段研究，通过考察以下方面来分解这一关系：（i）工作接受决策；（ii）在接受工作的条件下的劳动供给、产出和收入；以及（iii）离职率。在第一阶段，我们询问加纳农村地区的女性，在替代性工作机会稀缺的农闲季节，是否愿意接受一份以工代赈的工作。我们发现，在该人群中较为常见的抑郁和焦虑患者，更有可能拒绝家庭以外的工作机会，但接受居家工作岗位的可能性与其他人相当。在第二阶段，我们向愿意居家工作的人员随机提供居家工作机会，从而避免选择效应。在居家工作的情况下，抑郁和焦虑均不能预测工作完成情况、收入或离职率。这些发现表明，除心理健康对家庭以外工作生产率已被证实的负面影响之外，较差的心理健康状况还可能通过降低工作接受率，损害传统家庭以外工作的劳动力市场结果。不过，研究结果也提示了改善心理健康状况较差者劳动力市场结果的另一种途径：居家工作机会——对于心理健康状况较差者而言，此类机会既不与较低的工作接受率相关，也不与较低的在岗生产率相关。

Abstract

Mental health conditions are strongly associated with reduced labor market participation, but the underlying channels through which such conditions impact labor supply remain unclear. We conduct a two-phase study decomposing this relationship by examining (i) job take-up decisions and (ii) labor supply, output, and earning conditional on job take-up, and (iii) quit rates. In Phase 1, women in rural Ghana are asked whether they would be willing to take-up a cash-for-work job during the lean season when alternative work is scarce. We find that individuals with depression and anxiety, which are common in this population, are much more likely to decline work offers outside the home but equally likely to accept work-from-home positions. In Phase 2, we randomly offer jobs at home to those who were willing to work from home, avoiding selection effects. Neither depression nor anxiety predict work completion, income, or quit rates when working from home. These findings suggest that poor mental health may harm labor market outcomes in traditional jobs outside of the home via reduced take-up, above and beyond the established negative impacts of mental health on productivity in work outside of the home. But, the results also suggest an alternative approach to improving labor market outcomes for those in poor mental health: work-from-home opportunities, which are not associated with lower take-up or lower productivity on the job for those in poor mental health.