A new study by researchers at Ohio State University connected unemployment with increases in drug deaths for black workers, and showed job growth had “a stronger protective effect” against overdose deaths.

The study, published in the most recent edition of the American Journal of Public Health, discussed how a focus on keeping black Americans in the workforce could lower the rate of drug use and, in fact, prevent overdose deaths.

“The basic underlying framework I’m using to approach this issue is seeing the drug epidemic as a disease of despair, and examining how local labor market situations might have affected this at-risk population,” said Sehun Oh, assistant professor of social work at Ohio State and lead author of the study, in a statement on the research. “Others may be more focused on supply factors, but I believe economic context is critical to understanding the demand side of the story.”

Oh and co-author Manuel Cano, assistant professor of social work at Arizona State University, used data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the International Classification of Disease codes to analyze counties across the country where death data showed at least 10 black residents dying as a result of drug use between 2010-2013 and 2018-2021.

 "seeing the drug epidemic as a disease of despair" 

They linked county-level job counts and drug mortality rates “to estimate the associations between job-to-black workforce ratio and the black population’s drug mortality rates in U.S. counties and the moderating effects of state-level fentanyl seizure rates.”

Drug mortality rates showed, starting in 2020, black resident deaths began to surpass those of whites nationally, which the study said coincided with the next phase of the U.S. drug epidemic, “primarily driven by synthetic opioids, including illicitly manufactured fentanyl.”

Black Americans saw the highest rates of drug mortality in the Midwest and Northeast, especially when combined with a lower-than-average household income.

Counties in those regions saw an average rise of 48.7 deaths per 100,000 residents, representing a jump of 327%.

In Ohio, as of the third quarter of 2023, Ohio’s black unemployment stood at 6.1%, according to the Economic Policy Institute and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The overall unemployment rate for the state was 3.4% for that same period, and white unemployment stood at 2.8%. According to the most recent data, the national unemployment rate sits at 3.8%, as of March.

In 2021, the most recent drug overdose death rate reported by the CDC, Ohio had a rate of 48.1 per 100,000 residents.

In 2022, the Ohio Department of Health reported a 5% decrease in the number of unintentional drug overdose deaths compared to 2021 data, but also said the unintentional drug overdose death rate for black Ohioans “continued to surpass” the rate for whites, with black male residents holding the highest rate of all groups.

The use of drugs is better understood within the context of inequality, including in the workforce, according to the new report.

Research shows that disconnection from the workforce creates collective frustration and hopelessness, family disintegration and community violence and crime, increasing drug use as a refuge from psychological distress

“Research shows that disconnection from the workforce creates collective frustration and hopelessness, family disintegration and community violence and crime, increasing drug use as a refuge from psychological distress,” Oh and Cano stated in the study.

The research also showed that even one more job per 100 black workers could create a “statistically significant moderating effect of the state fentanyl seizure rates.”

The study’s authors recommended “geographically targeted interventions” to help bring about more economic prosperity for the black community, particularly in low-income areas, and thus reduce the impact of the drug epidemic.

“Such efforts may include improving employment opportunities for the black workforce through job creation and workforce development,” the research stated, adding that skills and training packages for those in recovery could also be helpful.