Health Effects of Unemployment in Europe. Investigating Social Inequality and Country Variation Using EU-SILC (2008-2011)

Elevated unemployment rates during the 2008 financial crisis have caused concern for population health. Vulnerable groups, e.g. low educated, are probably especially exposed to unemployment and more prone negative health effects, particularly in countries where social security is weak. Identifying such inequalities, demonstrate the need to study health effects within subpopulations and betweencountries.

My proposed article will investigate health effects of unemployment in low educational groups during the period from 2008 to 2011, using longitudinal data from European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The fixed effects models estimate health effects within each of the 28 participating countries, second step of analysis investigate correlations between unemployment coefficients and macro level indicators.

Preliminary results show significant between country variations in health effects of unemployment. The Nordic countries seems to be diverging from the rest of Europe, as results indicate positive health effects of unemployment. Generous and universal unemployment benefits, comprehensive activation programs and low unemployment rate are three plausible explanations. The two first are rather intuitive. Regarding low unemployment rate, this normally imply high employment rate, which means that more of the population is employed, even individuals with poor health. To the extent that even individuals with very poor health are employed, unemployment may actually imply a health relief, as long as the living conditions remains satisfied (manifest functions of labor). Conversely, among individuals with relatively good health, unemployment and subsequent loss of income (manifest functions) and social arenas (latent functions), may contribute to impaired health.