TY  - JOUR
AU  - Chatterji,Pinka
AU  - Alegria,Margarita
AU  - Lu,Mingshan
AU  - Takeuchi,David
TI  - Psychiatric Disorders and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the National Latino and Asian American Study
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11893
PY  - 2005
Y2  - December 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11893
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11893.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Pinka Chatterji
State University of New York at Albany
Economics Department
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY  12222
Tel: 518/442-4746
E-Mail: pchatterji@albany.edu

Margarita Alegria
Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research
Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School
120 Beacon Street, 4th Floor
Somerville MA 02143
E-Mail: malegria@charesearch.org

Mingshan Lu
University of Calgary
E-Mail: lu@ucalgary.ca

David Takeuchi
University of Washington
4101 15th Ave, NE
Seattle, WA 98105-6299
E-Mail: dt5@u.washington.edu
AB  - This paper investigates to what extent psychiatric disorders and mental distress affect labor market outcomes among ethnic minorities of Latino and Asian descent, most of whom are immigrants. Using data from the National Latino and Asian American Study, we examine the labor market effects of meeting diagnostic criteria for any psychiatric disorder in the past 12 months as well as the effects of psychiatric distress in the past year. Among Latinos, psychiatric disorders and mental distress are associated with detrimental effects on employment and absenteeism, similar to effects found in previous analyses of mostly white, American born populations. Among Asians, we find mixed evidence that psychiatric disorders and mental distress detract from labor market outcomes.
ER  -