Unemployment and health in macro-social analysis

Ingeborg P. Spruit

Social Science & Medicine, 1982, vol. 16, issue 22, 1903-1917

Abstract: The hypothesis that unemployment is related to bad health arises from a general acceptance of the relationship between living standards and longevity. To confirm the hypothesis three analytical statements have to be true: 1. (a) an increase of prosperity leads to a decrease of mortality; 2. (b) a decrease of prosperity leads to an increase of mortality; 3. (c) people with the relatively lowest prosperity, in this case the unemployed, have the relatively highest mortality and so are the least healthy. For this purpose important types of macro-social research are described and the results are interpreted, briefly evaluated and discussed. - Research comparing differences in life-expectancy in rich and poor countries, shows rough differences; - Research applying a new method, diffusionalist comparison, shows that increased prosperity does not infinitely lead to improvement of life expectancy; - Research on economic fluctuations and mortality is the only type of research attempting to describe a process, not a state of affairs; - Research on socio-economic categories within countries (classes, neighborhoods) shows differences in mortality and morbidity, but not why these differences exist; - Research on the relationship between a population's body height (as a health indicator) and poorness/ unemployment gives rise to more differentiated conclusions, but neither provides final answers; - Some small retrospective researches with divergent methodologies and using small hospital samples give different results.

Date: 1982
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