Impact of Covid-19 related changes in employment status, depression, and alcohol use in a sample of unionized leisure & hospitality industry workers

Abstract

COVID-19 devastated the US economy in March and April of 2020, decimating the workforce in the leisure and hospitality industries. Change in employment status, such as loss of employment, has previously been found to be associated with negative outcomes such as depression and hazardous alcohol use. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between current employment status (e.g., currently employed, or unemployed), current depression, and current hazardous alcohol use in a sample of employees from the leisure and hospitality industries. Participants included 1,106 individuals (58.8% female, Mage 49.58, SD = 10.96) with complete data on depression, binge drinking, heavy drinking, employment status, and gender. The prevalence of current major depression (29.2%) and binge drinking (26%) were substantial. As hypothesized, a significantly greater proportion of individuals who were currently unemployed (51.7%) were currently depressed compared to their employed counterparts (28%), z = 3.87, p < 0.001, (95% CI: [0.12, 0.36]). However, there were no differences between unemployed and employed participants on heavy drinking (p = 0.62) or binge drinking, z = 1.57, p = 0.74, (95% CI: [-0.21, 0.02]). Results are discussed, including limitations of the employment cell size for hazardous drinking analyses, which appears to be a function of the high rate of employment in the sample at the time of data collection in 2022. Ongoing survey research on mental health outcomes in hospitality industry employees, especially given high proportion of underrepresented and unempowered individuals, appears warranted. Keywords: Leisure, hospitality, COVID-19, labor union, depression, alcohol, duration of unemploymen