Is it Easier to Be Unemployed When the Experience Is More Widely Shared? Effects of Unemployment on Self-rated Health in 25 European Countries with Diverging Macroeconomic Conditions

Abstract

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.

Socioeconomic inequalities in health during the Great Recession: A scoping review of the research literature

“…In such a situation, the employed-unemployed health inequalities are quite noticeable. 34 Yet, this changes when the economic conditions deteriorate. Now, productive and high-skill individualswith good health status and perhaps better health behavioursbecome unemployed as well due to downsizing and firm closures.…”

“…79 Recall that employment status is an elastic socioeconomic indicator sensitive to compositional changes. 34,74,79 Recent empirical evidence has shown that the unemployed population is healthier on average in countries where unemployment becomes a mass phenomenon (e.g. Spain and Greece) 39 .…”

“…It is also possible that the negative effect of the above-mentioned risk factors changes for the worse during a crisis. For example, the mental stress surrounding unemployment could be even more difficult to cope with in an economic downturn, because there is no apparent way out of the hopeless situation [34]. Furthermore, less money to spare – due to, for example, income drops or cut backs in social security benefits – could imply even fewer nutritious meals for members of low-income households [35, 36].…”

Do Marriage and Cohabitation Provide Benefits to Health in Mid-Life? The Role of Childhood Selection Mechanisms and Partnership Characteristics Across Countries

“…We estimate the association between current union status and mid-life health using OLS regression methods, which are standard in studies of self-rated health (e.g., Borgonovi and Pokropek 2016 ; Heggebø and Elstad 2017 , n.d.; Williams et al 2011 ). We found nearly identical results using ordered logit models (available on request), but present OLS estimates because they provide the easiest comparison across countries, and categorical or logit models would require arbitrary cut-off points.…”

Old and New Methods in Police Research

“…In these countries, the experience of being unemployed is widely shared and probably involves less stigma and self-blame. Heggebø and Elstad (2017) demonstrate how non-standard statistical methods may be needed to uncover complex empirical patterns. However, as we shall see, new research designs will also be necessary if the goal is to make more definitive claims about causality in Scandinavian police research.…”