Unemployment and health impairments

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Abstract
In recent years many studies of unemployment and health have shown that unemployed persons are in poorer health. However, one question remained unanswered: is the poorer health of the unemployed caused by unemployment Itself (causation hypotheses) or is it a result of selection processes, whereby people in poor health are more likely to lose their job and less likely to be re-employed (selection hypothesis)? Findings from a study based on the longitudinal data of the German Socio-economic Panel (1984–1988, N=5, 516 persons, 18–64 years) are presented. All health indicators (health satisfaction, chronic illness, handicaps in fulfilling daily life tasks, disability) showed poorer outcomes for the unemployed persons, even after controlling for the possible confounding effects of sodo-demographic variables. Unemployed persons also consulted a physician more frequently and were hospitalized more often. But longitudinal analyses (of becoming unemployed and of re-employment) did not lend much support to the causation hypothesis. Instead, a constant level of health satisfaction for persons losing their job and for the re-employed compared to their initial ratings supported the selection hypotheses. This means that in the Federal Republic of Germany persons in poorer health are more likely to lose their jobs and persons in better health are more likely to be re-employed.

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