The mortality implications of a unionized career

Tom VanHeuvelen, Xiaowen Han and Jane VanHeuvelen

Social Science & Medicine, 2025, vol. 365, issue C

Abstract: An emerging literature has documented a wide range of protections and benefits that union membership provides for health and wellbeing. However, this literature primarily focuses on point-in-time associations between unionization and health, whereas the theoretical benefits of union membership should accrue over a long period of time through such mechanisms as predictable upward attainment and greater employment security. Moreover, studies have not examined union membership's association with mortality, a core health outcome in medical research. We build on recent research that examines the contributions of a unionized career to middle- and older-adulthood mortality using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics between 1969 and 2019. We track respondents born between 1935 and 1965 and predict mortality using discrete time hazard regression models. We find that more time spent in a union predicts lower rates of mortality, with an additional year as a union member decreasing the odds of mortality by about 1.5%. This magnitude is about half that of consistent attachment to paid employment. Moreover, we find that male, White, and less educated respondents were most protected by unionized careers, while union protection was found between ages 41 and 67. Our findings extend knowledge of the noneconomic consequences of union benefits and point to a source of emerging health disparities among older adults.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117620

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