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Study on Correlation between Changes in Employment Environment and Labor Force Suicide Rates in China: 1991-2009 Chen, Nan· Kim, Chang-Gyeong The suicide rate among urban middle-aged labor force increased significantly in China between 1998 and 2003, in contrast rates declined in rural labor forces of all ages. Explanations for these divergent trends are largely speculative, but changes of employment environment are likely to have played an important role. We undertook join-point analysis and correlation analysis using available age-adjusted suicide rates, to identify differences between rural labor forces and urban labor forces and to evaluate the association between macro-socioeconomic variables and suicide rates. This study examined the following in China between 1991 and 2009: (1) trends in rural and urban labor forces suicide rates; (2) trend in urban labor force unemployment rates; (3) trend in rural labor force proportion of non-agricultural labor; and (4)correlation between employment status and suicide rates. The main findings of this study were: (1) there are trends towards decline in suicide rates for rural labor forces over the 19 year study period, whereas the suicide rate among urban middle-aged labor force increased significantly between 1998 and 2003; (2) suicide rate of urban middle-aged labor force increased with an increases in unemployment rate during 1998-2003; and (3) suicide rates of rural labor forces decreased with an increase in proportion of rural non-agricultural labor.