This report analyses the resultant cost and impact on the Australian economy, highlighting the threat to productivity from poor mental health among young men. "The community must support the engagement of young men to achieve higher levels of education..."This report was commissioned by the Inspire Foundation and undertaken by Ernst and Young. It set out to quantify the likely cost of young men's (aged 12-25) mental illness on the Australian economy, thereby providing a detailed account of the impact on business and society of mental illness.
The report put the cost of mental illness in men in this age group at $387,000 every hour ($3.27 billion per annum). A third of this cost is borne directly by the Federal Government but the remaining two-thirds are drawn out of taxpayer funds, by employers, by individuals and by the community as a whole.
The report recommends the following actions:
Recommendation 1: Efforts should be made by all sectors of the community to support the engagement of young men to achieve higher levels of education.
- Improve secondary, tertiary and vocational educators’ levels of understanding of mental health, including the identification of disorders and awareness of support and referral services available. This should include professional development and tools for teachers and other educators
- Increase awareness and access for young men to educational alternatives such as apprenticeships
- Strengthen cross sector partnerships between employers and education providers to create stronger pathways from school to work for young men with mental illness. This should include focus on key transition points such as moving from school to further studies or employment
Recommendation 2: Efforts should be made by all sectors of the community to support young men with mental illness to engage in more productive employment.
- Improve employers’ level of understanding of mental health, including the identification of disorders and awareness of support and referral services available
- Initiate new partnership models between government, mental health service providers, NGOs, employers and business groups to create strategies that proactively support employees’ good mental health and ongoing engagement in the workforce
- Identify new partnership models between employers, business groups, government and NGOs to drive a whole of community response. This includes creating new collaborative funding and service delivery models
Recommendation 3: Efforts should be made by all sectors of the community to evaluate the effectiveness of current policy responses and investments in mental health.
- Undertake further targeted research to evaluate the efficacy of existing mental health programs and interventions with a particular emphasis on prevention and early intervention
- Undertake return on investment analysis to inform future investment in young men’s mental health with a particular emphasis on prevention and early intervention
- Enhance reporting of government funded initiatives targeted at supporting young men with mental illness to achieve full benefits of investment. Key objectives of these enhancements are to drive greater accountability of public spend and to provide better transparency and access to program performance and evaluation
Resources Available
- Report Summary: Counting The Cost Of Young Men's Mental Health
Summary (6 pages) of the report from Inspire Foundation and Ernst and Young.
Counting the Cost: The Impact of Young Men’s Mental Health on the Australian Economy -1.85 MB
The report from Ernst and Young on the costs and impacts of adverse mental illness outcomes for Australian men aged 12-25.
- Media Release: Young men’s mental illness costing the Australian economy $3b
Media release highlighting the enormous daily cost of adverse male mental health outcomes.
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Contact Information
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Inspire Foundation PO Box 1790 Rozelle, New South Wales 2039 AustraliaTelephone: +61 2 8029 7777 Fax: +61 2 8029 7700 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |