Previous research has documented that unemployed job applicants have problems re-entering the labor market, commonly referred to as scarring effects of unemployment. Studies have also documented ethnic discrimination in the labor market. Yet we do not know how these categories jointly shape employers hiring decisions. Thus, we do not know if unemployed minorities face an additive or a multiplicative disadvantage in hiring processes. Building on experimental data from two waves of a randomized field-experiment, we test whether we find an ethnic scarring effect, which would imply that contemporary long-term unemployment is particularly harmful to native born ethnic minorities. As expected, our experiment documents scarring effects of contemporary long-term unemployment. We also found, as expected, systematically lower call-backs for applicants with Pakistani/Muslim names. Third, our results show that unemployed minorities face an additive disadvantage in the labor market. Thus, we find no evidence of an ethnic scarring effect of unemployment, which would imply different consequences of unemployment for minority and majority applicants.
Are people with ill health more prone to unemployment during the ongoing economic crisis? Is this health selection more visible among people with low education, women, or the young? The current paper investigates these questions in the Scandinavian context using the longitudinal part of the EU-SILC data material. Generalized least squares analysis indicates that people with ill health are laid off to a higher degree than their healthy counterparts in Denmark, but not in Norway and Sweden. Additionally, young individuals (<30 years) with ill health have a higher probability of unemployment in both Norway and Sweden, but not in Denmark. Neither women with ill health, nor individuals with low educational qualifications and ill health, are more likely to lose their jobs in Scandinavia. Individual level (and calendar year) fixed effects analysis confirms the existence of health selection out of employment in Denmark, whereas there is no suggestion of health selection in Sweden and Norway, except among young individuals. This finding could be related to the differing labor market demand the three Scandinavian countries have experienced during and preceding the study period (2007-2010). Another possible explanation for the cross-national differences is connected to the Danish "flexicurity" model, where the employment protection is rather weak. People with ill health, and hence more unstable labor market attachment, could be more vulnerable in such an arrangement.
ᅟUnemployment and health selection in diverging economic conditions: Compositional changes? Evidence from 28 european countries.IntroductionPeople with ill health tend to be overrepresented among the unemployment population. The relationship between health and unemployment might, however, be sensitive to the overall economic condition. Specifically, the health composition of the unemployment population could change dramatically when the economy takes a turn for the worse.MethodsUsing EU-SILC cross sectional data from 2007 (pre-crisis) and 2011 (during crisis) and linear regression models, this paper investigates the relationship between health and unemployment probabilities under differing economic conditions in 28 European countries. The countries are classified according to (i) the level of and (ii) increase in unemployment rate (i.e. >10 percent and doubling of unemployment rate = crisis country).ResultsFirstly, the unemployment likelihood for people with ill health is remarkably stable over time in Europe: the coefficients are very similar in pre-crisis and crisis years. Secondly, people with ill health have experienced unemployment to a lesser extent than those with good health status in the crisis year (when we pool the data and compare 2007 and 2011), but only in the countries with a high and rising unemployment rate.ConclusionThe health composition of the unemployment population changes significantly for the better, but only in those European countries that have been severely hit by the current economic crisis.
The economic crisis in Europe since 2008 has led to high unemployment levels in several countries. Previous research suggests that becoming unemployed is a health risk, but is job loss and unemployment easier to cope with when unemployment is widespread? Using EU-SILC panel data (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013), this study examines short-term effects of unemployment on self-rated health (SRH) in 25 European countries with diverging macroeconomic conditions. Ordinary least squares regressions show that the unemployed are in worse health than the employed throughout Europe. The association is reduced considerably, but remains significant in several countries when time-invariant personal characteristics are accounted for using individual-level fixed-effects models. Propensity score kernel matching shows that both being and becoming unemployed are associated with slightly worse SRH. There is a weak tendency towards less health effects of unemployment in countries where the experience is widely shared. In particular, countries with a very low unemployment rate stand out with larger health effects. The results overall suggest that a changed composition of the unemployed population is an important explanation for the weaker unemployment-health association in high-unemployment countries.
Aims: The so-called ‘Great Recession’ in Europe triggered widespread concerns about population health, as reflected by an upsurge in empirical research on the health impacts of the economic crisis. A growing body of empirical studies has also been devoted to socioeconomic inequalities in health during the Great Recession. The aim of the current study is to summarise this health inequality literature by means of a scoping review. Methods: We have performed a scoping review of the research literature (English language) published in the years 2012–2017. Only empirical papers with (a) health status measured on the individual level, (b) information on socioeconomic position (i.e. employment status, educational level, income/wealth, and/or occupational class), and (c) data from European countries in both pre- and post-crisis years were considered relevant. In total, 49 empirical studies fulfilled these inclusion criteria. Results: The empirical findings in the 49 included studies predominantly show that socioeconomic inequalities in health either increased or remained stable from pre- to post-crisis years. Two-thirds (65%) of the studies found evidence of either increasing or partially increasing health inequalities. Thus, people in lower socioeconomic strata fared worse overall in terms of health during the Great Recession, compared to people with higher socioeconomic status. Conclusions: The Great Recession in Europe tends to be followed by increasing socioeconomic inequalities in health. Policymakers should take note of this finding. Widening socioeconomic inequalities in health is a major cause of concern, in particular if health deterioration among ‘vulnerable groups’ is caused by accelerating cumulative disadvantages.
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