Abstract
This study looks to investigate relationships between occupational stress and mental
health in New Zealand. Using data from the New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure, working
hours and their association with the likelihood of self-injury and suicide incidents over a five-year
follow-up period between 2013-2018 are analysed via binary logistic regression. In doing this, the
research contributes to the literature by using longitudinal data for health outcomes as well as using
tangible variables to reflect mental well-being in a New Zealand context. The study also looks to
investigate any form of direct relationship between occupational stress and the likelihood of self-injury with the use of a difference-in-differences set-up comparing mental health outcomes before
and after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, an event which provides a form of exogenous variation
in working hours and stress among the construction industry. The main finding of the study is
that individuals working over 50 hours per week were estimated to be 1.15 times more likely to
experience an incident of self-harm over the five-year follow-up period (significant at the one percent
level) while working hours were not found to be a significant predictor of suicide events. Moreover,
no significant changes in the likelihood of these events following the 2011 earthquake was estimated
despite the exogenous increase in working hours among the construction industry in Canterbury.