Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnt, Work, And hEAlth InEquAlItIEs - a global perspective
Thus, mechanisms can be prioritised as follows. social
causation has been shown to be of more importance than health
selection. among the mechanisms of social causation, the economic
deprivation model has received the most support, followed by the
stress model. The next priority is given to Marie Jahoda’s model of
latent functions, while the lowest priority is given to the social
support and control models.
selected scientific findings
Unemployment and mortality in the OPCS Longitudinal Study in the UK
the mortality of men aged 15-64 who were seeking work the week before the 1971 census was investigated by means
of the opcs longitudinal study, which follows a 1 per cent sample of the population of england and wales. in contrast to
the current position, only 4 per cent of men of working age in 1971 fell into this category. the mortality of these unemployed
men in the period 1971-81 was higher (standardised mortality ratio: 136) than would be expected from death rates for all
men in the longitudinal study. the socioeconomic distribution of the unemployed accounts for some of the raised mortality
but, after allowing for this, a 20-30 per cent excess remains. this excess was apparent for both the 1971-75 and the 1976-
81 periods. the data offer only limited support for the suggestion that some of this excess resulted from men becoming
unemployed because of their ill-health; the trend in overall mortality over time and the pattern by cause of death were not
those usually associated with ill-health selection. previous studies have suggested that stress accompanying
unemployment could be associated with increased suicide rates, as were again found here. Moreover, the mortality of
women whose husbands were unemployed was higher than that of all married women (standardised mortality ratio: 120),
and this excess also persisted after allowing for their socioeconomic distribution. the results support findings by others that
unemployment is associated with adverse effects on health.
Source
Moser, K. a., Fox, a. J., & Jones, d. r. (1984). unemployment and mortality in the opcs longitudinal study. The Lancet, ii,
1324-1329.
Excess mortality of unemployed men and women during a period of rapidly increasing unemployment in Finland
Background: previous studies have found evidence of higher mortality rates among unemployed people than among
those in employment, but the effect of changes in national unemployment rates on this association is unclear. we studied
mortality in both men and women during a period of rapidly increasing unemployment in Finland.
methods: in this prospective study of mortality in the Finnish population aged 25-59 years (2.5 million people), baseline
sociodemographic data were obtained from the 1990 census and information on employment status in 1987-92 from statistics
Finland's labour force data files. Mortality follow-up was established by record linkage to death certificates from 1991 to 1993.
Findings: individuals who experienced unemployment between 1987 and 1992 had greater mortality than those in
employment after controlling for age, education, occupational class, and marital status. the mortality ratios for men and
women who were unemployed for the first time in 1990, at a time of low national unemployment, were 2.11 (95% ci 1.76-2.53)
and 1.61 (1.09-2.36), respectively. these values were lower for those who were unemployed for the first time in 1992 when the
national unemployment rate was very high (men 1.35 [1.16-1.56], women 1.30 [0.97-1.75]). the jobless who were re-employed
had higher mortality than those who were continuously employed, but not as high as those who remained unemployed.
Interpretation: we have found that the association between unemployment and mortality weakens as the general
unemployment rate increases. studies that took place when the unemployment rate was low may thus overestimate the
effect of unemployment on mortality because of unaccounted confounding.
Source
Martikainen, p. t., & valkonen, t. (1996). excess mortality of unemployed men and women during a period of rapidly
increasing unemployment. The Lancet, 348(9032), 909-912.
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