Jobless now, sick later? Investigating the long-term consequences of involuntary job loss on health

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractIn the light of the current economic crises which in many countries lead to business closures and mass lay-offs, the consequences of job loss are important on various dimensions. They have to be investigated not only in consideration of a few years, but with a long-term perspective as well, because early life course events may prove important for later life outcomes. This paper uses data from SHARELIFE to shed light on the long-term consequences of involuntary job loss on health.The paper distinguishes between two different reasons for involuntary job loss: plant closures, which in the literature are considered to be exogenous to the individual, and lay-offs, where the causal direction of health and unemployment is ambiguous. These groups are separately compared to those who never experienced a job loss. The paper uses eleven different measures of health to assess long-term health consequences of job loss, which has to have occurred at least 25 years before the current interview. As panel data cannot be employed, a large body of variables, including childhood health and socio-economic conditions, is used to control for the initial conditions.The findings suggest that individuals with an exogenous job loss suffer in the long run: men are significantly more likely to be depressed and they have more trouble knowing the current date. Women report poorer general health and more chronic conditions and are also affected in their physical health: they are more likely to be obese or overweight, and to have any limitations in their (instrumental) activities of daily living. In the comparison group of laid-off individuals, controlling for the initial conditions reduces the effects of job loss on healthproving that controlling for childhood conditions is important.3

The effect of an early-career involuntary job loss on later life health in Europe

“…5 In addition, persons who were self-employed or retired in their early-career were excluded. Job losses of these persons are unlikely to be exogenous (Schröder, 2013). Moreover, information on whether any early-career job ended due to an illness or disability was exploited (see Burgard et al, 2007 for a similar approach).…”

“…The following 14 countries were included: Austria, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland and Ireland. The data provided information on self-rated health at the time of the interview as well as details about respondents' work histories, childhood health and childhood socio-economic status, making it well-suited for the analysis of the long-term consequences of life course events (Brandt & Hank, 2014;Schröder, 2013).…”

“…In the CAPI, dates of births and marriages were represented in a calendar, serving as anchor points for further questions (Schröder, 2013). The work history module collected data for every job lasting at least six month including the start and end, job characteristics and the reason for its end.…”

“…1 A few previous studies on the long-term health consequences mostly examine the general population (Daly & Delaney, 2013;Schröder, 2013). However, recent evidence from long-run cohort studies suggests that young people may be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of unemployment (Bell & Blanchflower, 2011;Strandh, Winefield, Nilsson, & Hammarström, 2014).…”

“…However, from a substantial as well as a methodological point of view, additional data on the reason for job loss provide rich information (Schröder 2013). Specifically, research on life events emphasises that their effects on health vary by 'their desirability, by the degree of control people have over their occurrence, or by whether or not they are scheduled' (Pearlin, Lieberman, Menaghan, & Mullan, 1981, p. 339), making it likely that only involuntary job losses will have lasting negative effects.…”