Does social policy moderate the impact of unemployment on health? A multilevel analysis of 23 welfare states

Shahidi, Faraz Vahid; Siddiqi, Arjumand; Muntaner, Carles

doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckw050

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Youth can benefit from a multidisciplinary guidance approach, which helps them not only to find a job, but also to e.g., establish financial security and find affordable living arrangements. Our findings can also contribute to the policy debate on granted social benefits as recently done by Vahid Shahidi et al [35]. This study found that the government can mitigate unemployment-related health inequalities by expanding the generosity and scope of social protection policies.…”

Section: Discussion and Limitationssupporting

confidence: 74%

“…A first possible explanation for this evolution is related to the restrictive evolution of the welfare state protection from the 90ies onwards. We know that welfare state protection during unemployment can form a ‘health-protecting material security’ [22, 28–30, 35]. A second explanation, for the two most recent waves, could be the negative effects of the economic crisis on mental health during unemployment [18, 21–24].…”

Section: Discussion and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reversely, experiencing a comfortable financial situation attenuates the mental health effects of unemployment [34]. Generous welfare state protection during unemployment can be seen as a very important source of ‘health-protecting material security’ [22, 28, 35]. However, also living arrangements are important: unemployed people living alone or with acquaintances have more adverse mental health outcomes compared to unemployed people living with a partner [36, 37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The mental health of unemployed Brussels youth: the role of social and material resources

2017

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BackgroundIn the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession, youth unemployment rates in the Brussels Capital Region (BCR) increased. The aim of this study is firstly to investigate the evolution of the mental health gap between employed and unemployed youth and secondly to examine the association of material and social resources with mental health of youth entering the labour market in the BCR.MethodsTwo data sources are used to answer the research questions: the Belgian Health Interview Survey (HIS) data (1997 to 2013; 18- to 29-year-olds; N = 5,562), and the authors’ own primary data collection among Brussels youth in the transition from education to employment (2015; 18- to 29-year-olds; N = 1,151; BCR-sample). Prevalence ratios, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses are used to explore mental distress and possible mental disorder amongst this particular group of youth.ResultsThe results show a consistent tendency towards increasing mental health problems for unemployed, compared to employed youth in the 1997–2013 period in the three Belgian Regions. Both social support and the living arrangements of men are related to mental distress and a possible mental disorder. The perception of a poor financial situation is related to a possible mental disorder. Our study also found that escape-avoidance behaviour is important in explaining both adverse mental health outcomes amongst women.ConclusionsThis study suggests that the mental health gap between employed and unemployed youth increases and demonstrates the importance of material and social resources for the mental health of unemployed youth. These results can contribute to discussions on unemployment policies targeting vulnerable youth.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13690-017-0187-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussion and Limitationssupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussion and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The mental health of unemployed Brussels youth: the role of social and material resources

2017

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“…A rich research literature from a range of disciplines has documented the pervasive negative community views toward those who are unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits, with the extent of this "welfare stigma" being particularly pronounced in countries with highly targeted benefit systems such as the United States and Australia (Fiske et al, 2002;Baumberg, 2012;Contini and Richiardi, 2012;Schofield and Butterworth, 2015). The stigma and potential discrimination associated with unemployment and benefit receipt are known to have negative impacts on health, employability and equality (for meta-analyses, see Shahidi et al, 2016). In addition, the receipt of unemployment benefits co-occurs with other stigmatized characteristics such as poverty and unemployment (Schofield and Butterworth, 2018a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unemployment, Employability and COVID19: How the Global Socioeconomic Shock Challenged Negative Perceptions Toward the Less Fortunate in the Australian Context

2020

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Unemployed benefit recipients are stigmatized and generally perceived negatively in terms of their personality characteristics and employability. The COVID19 economic shock led to rapid public policy responses across the globe to lessen the impact of mass unemployment, potentially shifting community perceptions of individuals who are out of work and rely on government income support. We used a repeated crosssections design to study change in stigma tied to unemployment and benefit receipt in a pre-existing pre-COVID19 sample (n = 260) and a sample collected during COVID19 pandemic (n = 670) by using a vignette-based experiment. Participants rated attributes of characters who were described as being employed, working poor, unemployed or receiving unemployment benefits. The results show that compared to employed characters, unemployed characters were rated substantially less favorably at both time points on their employability and personality traits. The difference in perceptions of the employed and unemployed was, however, attenuated during COVID19 with benefit recipients perceived as more employable and more Conscientious than pre-pandemic. These results add to knowledge about the determinants of welfare stigma highlighting the impact of the global economic and health crisis on perception of others.

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“…The international literature has looked into the matter of social public expenditure and health-care expenditure and their impact on the health of individuals, and has found that they have a positive effect across countries both at the global [ 38 , 39 ], OECD [ 40 , 41 ], and European levels [ 1 , 42 – 47 ]. Conversely, Huijts et al (2014) found that expenditure on active employment policies, unemployment benefits, and even total social expenditure had a very limited effect (even negative for women) in moderating the detrimental effects of unemployment on self-perceived health [ 48 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long term unemployment, income, poverty, and social public expenditure, and their relationship with self-perceived health in Spain (2007–2011)

2018

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BackgroundThere is scant research that simultaneously analyzes the joint effects of long-term unemployment, poverty and public expenditure policies on poorer self-perceived health during the financial crisis. The aim of the study is to analyze the joint relationship between long-term unemployment, social deprivation, and regional social public expenditure on one side, and self-perceived health in Spain (2007–2011) on the other.MethodsLongitudinal data were extracted from the Survey on Living Conditions, 2007–2010 and 2008–2011 (9105 individuals and 36,420 observations), which were then used to estimate several random group effects in the constant multilevel logistic longitudinal models (level 1: year; level 2: individual; level 3: region). The dependent variable was self-perceived health. Individual independent interest variables were long and very long term unemployment, available income, severe material deprivation and regional variables were per capita expenditure on essential public services and per capita health care expenditure.ResultsAll of the estimated models show a robust association between bad perceived health and the variables of interest. When compared to employed individuals, long term unemployment increases the odds of reporting bad health by 22% to 67%; very long-term unemployment (24 to 48 months) increases the odds by 54% to 132%. Family income reduces the odds of reporting bad health by 16% to 28% for each additional percentage point in income. Being a member of a household with severe material deprivation increases the odds of perceiving one’s health as bad by between 70% and 140%. Regionally, per capita expenditure on essential public services increases the odds of reporting good health, although the effect of this association was limited.ConclusionsLong and very long term unemployment, available income and poverty were associated to self-perceived bad health in Spain during the financial crisis. Regional expenditure on fundamental public services is also associated to poor self-perceived health, although in a more limited fashion. Results suggest the positive role in health of active employment and redistributing income policies.

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Does social policy moderate the impact of unemployment on health? A multilevel analysis of 23 welfare states

Cited by 26 publications

References 40 publications

The mental health of unemployed Brussels youth: the role of social and material resources

The mental health of unemployed Brussels youth: the role of social and material resources

Unemployment, Employability and COVID19: How the Global Socioeconomic Shock Challenged Negative Perceptions Toward the Less Fortunate in the Australian Context

Long term unemployment, income, poverty, and social public expenditure, and their relationship with self-perceived health in Spain (2007–2011)

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