00:00Jamie suffered a major psychological response after being bullied on a construction site
00:07two years ago. He was diagnosed with an ongoing mental disorder which has forced him out of
00:14work. I'm no longer a painter and decorator in the construction industry. I'm a 40 plus
00:20year old disabled pensioner which, yeah, sucks to say. There's been a sharp rise in the number
00:26of young Australians experiencing similar outcomes. The research is showing that we
00:32have an exponential rise in the number of people who are leaving the workforce for good because of
00:38their mental health. The biggest increase in mental health claims is in the 30 to 40 year age
00:43group, up 730%. Payments for mental health claims now make up almost a third of all permanent
00:52disability claims. The reasons behind the sharp rise in claims are complex and not well understood.
00:58There is a greater awareness of mental health conditions and more workers are reporting
01:04symptoms, especially younger workers who make up a greater proportion of the workforce. What we've
01:10shown is that the most recent cohort of workers, young people, not only do they have more mental
01:16health problems but at any given level of work stress that affects their mental health more, i.e.
01:24they are less resilient to work stress than they used to be. The rise coincides with an increase
01:30in support services. So there's a lot more awareness, there's a lot more push to help
01:35seeking, there's a lot more training of managers, mental health first aid, R U OK? Help available
01:42but at times too late. Bronwyn Herbert, ABC News.
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