ERF 26th Annual Conference
Employment Transitions of Youth and Mental Health Implications in Egypt
No.
ERF26_102
Publisher
ERF
Date
July, 2020
Topic
J4. Particular Labor Markets
O5. Economywide Country Studies
C2. Single Equation Models
J6. Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
J2. Demand and Supply of Labor
J1. Demographic Economics
Youth in Egypt suffer from high rates of non-employment and the widespread use of informal employment. Against this background, this paper investigates the effect of transitions into permanent, temporary, causal/seasonal and informal employment compared to non-employment on the psychological health of youth in Egypt. Using data from the Survey of Young People in Egypt for the years 2009 and 2014, we estimate the effects of various employment transitions on mental health outcomes by applying a matched difference-in-differences. Results show that the transition from non-employment to employment improves the individual’s mental health in general. There are differences in the magnitude of the effect according to the type of employment where those in informal and temporary employment have lower improvements compared to formal and permanent employment. By gender, the psychological benefits of transitioning to a job is higher for men. For women, the stability and the formality of the job matters the most.
Authors
Maye Ehab
Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences