The Effects of Unemployment on Mortality following Workplace Downsizing and Workplace Closure: A Register-based Follow-up Study of Finnish Men and Women during Economic Boom and Recession

Unemployment is strongly associated with mortality on the individual level. The reasons for this association are not fully established. The authors estimated the effects of unemployment and workplace downsizing on mortality during periods of low (1989) and high (1994) unemployment in Finland. They u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of epidemiology 2007-05, Vol.165 (9), p.1070-1075
Main Authors: Martikainen, Pekka, Mäki, Netta, Jäntti, Markus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis. Health state
Biological and medical sciences
Downsizing
Economics
Epidemiology
Female
Finland - epidemiology
follow-up studies
General aspects
Humans
Life Change Events
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Mortality
Mortality - trends
Occupational medicine
personnel downsizing
Personnel Downsizing - economics
Prospective Studies
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Research Design
Research methodology
Risk Factors
Shutdowns
Time Factors
Unemployment
Unemployment - statistics & numerical data
workplace
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Summary:Unemployment is strongly associated with mortality on the individual level. The reasons for this association are not fully established. The authors estimated the effects of unemployment and workplace downsizing on mortality during periods of low (1989) and high (1994) unemployment in Finland. They used prospective population registration data containing detailed socioeconomic and demographic information on two cohorts aged 35–64 years at the beginning of 1989 (N = 87,317) and 1994 (N = 72,419) followed up for mortality in 1990–1997 and 1995–2002, respectively. Unemployment was found to be associated with a 2.38-fold increase in the hazard of mortality after 1989 and with a 1.25-fold increase after 1994. No excess mortality was observed among those who, at baseline, were employed at workplaces that had experienced large reductions in employment. Furthermore, the association between unemployment and mortality was weaker among those working in establishments that had been strongly downsized. By showing that, in the context of either a high level of unemployment or rapid downsizing, the effects of unemployment on mortality are modest, this study provides strong evidence of unaccounted confounding. Individual-level studies may thus overestimate the causal effects of unemployment on mortality.
ISSN:0002-9262
1476-6256
DOI:10.1093/aje/kwm057