Men who lose their job in US states that provide generous unemployment benefits are at lower risk of poor health, according to research led by Jonathan Cylus of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
The research, published on Thursday 18 December in the American Journal of Public Health, links American state-mandated unemployment insurance benefits to data on employment status and self-reported health from over 12,000 heads of households between the ages of 18 and 65 for the period of 1984-2009.[1]
The researchers found that while there is an increased risk of reporting poor health for men who experience job loss, men who lost their job in states and years with comparatively more generous unemployment benefits had a statistically lower likelihood of reporting poor health. The research revealed no impact of unemployment benefit programs for women or the employed.
Jonathan Cylus, a Research Fellow at LSE Health and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, said: “Our study suggests that unemployment benefits may significantly alleviate the adverse health effects of unemployment among men. This is particularly relevant given the current financial crisis, which has spared debates on the costs and benefits of welfare programmes.”
“Our findings highlight the potential of income support programs to not only smooth consumption during unemployment spells, as has been suggested previously, but also to influence health after job loss. We estimate that a 63 percent increase in the maximum unemployment benefits a worker is entitled to receive offsets the impact of unemployment on health among men.”
Health Effects of Unemployment Benefit Program Generosity is by Jonathan Cylus at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Mauricio Avendano at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Harvard School of Public Health and M. Maria Glymour at the University of California, San Francisco and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Ends
Contact:
For a copy of the full report, contact Jonathan Cylus, j.d.cylus@lse.ac.uk|
Appendix
[1] The researchers studied longitudinal data on employment status and self-reported health from the 1984-2009 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for 12,855 heads of household between the ages of 18 and 65.
19 December 2014