Depression and anxiety could have cost Singapore’s economy an estimated S$19.6 billion in 2025, says report

SINGAPORE: A recent report stated that the high prevalence of mental health problems, especially depression and anxiety, could cost the economy.

On Tuesday (Nov 10), the global advisory firm Access Partnership published “Beyond the paycheck: The economic cost of mental health in Singapore’s workforce,” which said that one out of five adults in the city-state shows symptoms of depression or anxiety. In spite of this, most still come to work every day, though at times, at reduced capacity, which has an economic effect.

The report estimates that, based on an economic model of lost productivity, absenteeism, employee turnover, and other costs, depression and anxiety symptoms could cost Singapore's economy S$19.6 billion in 2025. It further pointed out that this figure is greater than the S$18.5 billion in operating health expenditure for that fiscal year.

However, it added that by 2030, the economic burden is projected to reach as much as S$21.7 billion, which is equivalent to 2.3% of GDP.

The financial burden of mental health issues lies heaviest on employers, who are projected to bear nearly 94% of the total. This is done in three ways: when employees come to work but perform at reduced capacity, when they don’t come to work at all, and when employers spend more in replacing workers who eventually resign.

The workers themselves, along wth caregivers and the government, bear the remaining 6%.

Interventions

Based on international research and the World Health Organization's Guidelines on Mental Health at Work, the report presented three workplace interventions alongside the estimated potential returns for every dollar invested.

According to Access Partnership, organisation-wide mental health promotion returns S$6.20 for every dollar invested, training for supervisors and managers returns S$7.50, and employee assistance programmes return S$5.20.

As the report points out, these interventions “pay for themselves.” 

It projects that when scaled up, the economic burden may be reduced between S$2.6 billion and S$5.4 billion by 2030, depending on the level of government and employer investment.

“Coordinated, sustained action is now required. Singapore has moved quickly on policy. The National Mental Health and Well‑being Strategy, the iWorkHealth psychosocial assessment tool, and the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Health and Well‑being at Workplaces (Tripartite Advisory) are all in place.

However, adoption of such initiatives remains limited, partly because promotion rarely extends to the small‑and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) where most workers are employed. Furthermore, manager training has no quality standard against which employers can measure themselves, and EAPs are available but seldom used: 93% of companies communicate their mental health programmes, yet only 5% of employees engage with them,” the report reads. /TISG

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