Employmentweb_low

eMployMent relations and health inequalities: pathways and MechanisMs
There is a lack of theoretical and empirical research on the
mechanisms and explanations linking employment conditions to
poor health outcomes. More longitudinal empirical research and
reviews are needed in relation to issues such as the mediating
mechanisms between employment dimensions, their interrelation
and several health outcomes. studies of employment dimensions
should stratify by social class, gender, age, ethnicity, race and
migration status. There is also a need to investigate externalities
and spill-over effects on the health of other workers,
families/children and the community. The use of mixed-methods,
integrating quantitative, qualitative and historical research could
contribute to a better understanding of the pathways,
mechanisms and explanations linking employment dimensions
and health inequalities.
another important area in need of further research is the
evaluation of employment policies and other employment
interventions to reduce health inequalities. There is a need to
develop better explanatory models, both for guiding public health
interventions and for the evaluation of these interventions.
some of the main research gaps on the employment dimensions
studied in this book are summarised as follows.
full-time permanent employment
• More analytical longitudinal research as well as realist reviews
and meta-analyses are needed on issues such as the benefits and
hazards for physical and mental health related to full-time
permanent employment and its mediating mechanisms.
• There is a need to capture multiple dimensions of full-time
permanent employment in different social contexts and for different
types of workers. employees should be better characterised
according to a spectrum of employment relations that takes into
account workers’ rights, inequality in terms of wages and benefits,
workers’ participation, etc. causal linkages between social, political
and economic contexts, traditional physical and psychosocial
workplace conditions and their impact on health inequalities should
be thoroughly investigated.
• likewise, it is necessary to evaluate policies and employment
interventions at various levels (labour market, organisational) to
reduce health inequalities.
“We have lots of problems like inadequate
toilet facilities. many of us have had to
leave our small children at home,
sometimes unattended. We want crèche
facilities. Childcare facilities will relieve us
of a lot of anxiety and in turn employers’
shipments will not suffer.”
source: people’s health Movement. (2002).
Voices of the Unheard: Testimonies from the
People’s Health Assembly.
unemployment
• Most studies on unemployment are descriptive. More analytical
longitudinal research as well as realist reviews and meta-analyses
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