These days, it’s often presented as a given that we should welcome the economic booms that come with establishing big factories, data centers, and energy extraction and processing projects. Yet while the jobs may be welcome, it’s worth considering the possibility that long-term single-industry investments could put people’s mental health at risk.
Put another way, a boom in manufacturing may be good only for some. What is seldom mentioned when red ribbons are being cut is what happens when the boom gives way to the inevitable bust, and the most vulnerable workers—usually, those who are younger and less educated—are told to go home.
What the Research Shows About Manufacturing Booms and Mental Health
When economies are too focused on a single industry—whether it’s mining, car manufacturing, or any other employment sector—the benefits may not be shared equally research suggests.
Consider, for example, what we can learn from a study by Eric Katovich and his colleagues at the University of Connecticut, who compared outcomes for Brazilian workers in oil and gas industries and those in less volatile industries during periods of economic boom and bust (2006 to 2014). Because 2008 brought with it a worldwide recession, their data captured both parts of the cycle.
While the findings are nuanced, the results suggest that workers who entered the volatile oil and gas industry early and had more education upon entry tended to be able to weather the ups and downs of the economy better than others. Workers who joined the industry later and workers with less education didn’t do so well economically. As Katovich and his colleagues explain:
“Among experienced workers hired into oil, the boom-bust cycle appears to have benefited only early entrants while leaving most later entrants stranded… workers hired into oil in later years are more likely to lose employment during the bust and are employed an average 20-40 percent fewer months per year… This negative employment shock results in annual earnings penalties for later entrants relative to matched controls, revealing a ‘last-in, first-out’ pattern” (p.231).
These findings suggest that while those sought after big industry, blue-collar jobs are great when the economy is booming, those with less education and experience—a group that often includes many younger workers—may be left much more vulnerable to unemployment and the mental health consequences that come with it when the economy dips and there are layoffs.
Sadly, being unemployed, or under-employed, is not great for one’s mental health. A recent U.S. review of public health data by Preethi Pratap and colleagues from the University of Illinois found that when people are forced out of their jobs or under-employed, there are consequences for their mental health, from increases in suicide to susceptibility to chronic disease. As they write:
“People who are status-underemployed report more chronic disease and less functional health than do adequately employed workers. People who are income-underemployed report less functional health than do adequately employed workers.”
Of course, for many small towns, these blue-collar jobs are worth the risk to people’s mental health. Still, from the point of view of psychological well-being, one needs to remember that industries vulnerable to economic boom and bust cycles can leave people who depend on them vulnerable to all the stress that comes with unemployment.
Social and psychological resilience, and the skills, resources, and mindset needed to weather bad times, are much easier to achieve when one has good, steady employment. Maybe there is a better strategy than putting all our hopes for economic success in one basket. A good economy requires a diversified job market (e.g., agribusiness and tourism; petrochemicals and automobiles; etc.), and a diversified job market protects the mental health of employees who are vulnerable to being the first to be let go during economic downturns.
Education Essential Reads
There is no easy way to unravel this problem except to encourage people to pursue education and/or aim to attain as diverse a range of job-related skills as possible, even in communities with a booming economy and plenty of manufacturing jobs anchored to a single industry. It also means encouraging investments in a more diverse economy with all kinds of work opportunities, including support for entrepreneurs. That is a far better way to build a resilient economy that builds resilient people and resilient communities.