Browsing by Subject "Unemployment"
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Item Open Access A time-series analysis of the relation between unemployment rate and hospital admission for acute myocardial infarction and stroke in Brazil over more than a decade.(International journal of cardiology, 2016-12) Katz, Marcelo; Bosworth, Hayden B; Lopes, Renato D; Dupre, Matthew E; Morita, Fernando; Pereira, Carolina; Franco, Fabio GM; Prado, Rogerio R; Pesaro, Antonio E; Wajngarten, MauricioBackground
The effect of socioeconomic stressors on the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is currently open to debate. Using time-series analysis, our study aimed to evaluate the relationship between unemployment rate and hospital admission for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke in Brazil over a recent 11-year span.Methods and results
Data on monthly hospital admissions for AMI and stroke from March 2002 to December 2013 were extracted from the Brazilian Public Health System Database. The monthly unemployment rate was obtained from the Brazilian Institute for Applied Economic Research, during the same period. The autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was used to test the association of temporal series. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. From March 2002 to December 2013, 778,263 admissions for AMI and 1,581,675 for stroke were recorded. During this time period, the unemployment rate decreased from 12.9% in 2002 to 4.3% in 2013, while admissions due to AMI and stroke increased. However, the adjusted ARIMA model showed a positive association between the unemployment rate and admissions for AMI but not for stroke (estimate coefficient=2.81±0.93; p=0.003 and estimate coefficient=2.40±4.34; p=0.58, respectively).Conclusions
From 2002 to 2013, hospital admissions for AMI and stroke increased, whereas the unemployment rate decreased. However, the adjusted ARIMA model showed a positive association between unemployment rate and admissions due to AMI but not for stroke. Further studies are warranted to validate our findings and to better explore the mechanisms by which socioeconomic stressors, such as unemployment, might impact on the incidence of CVD.Item Open Access Automation and the Fate of Young Workers: Evidence from Telephone Operation in the Early 20th Century(2020-10-31) Feigenbaum, James; Gross, Daniel PItem Open Access Community-wide job loss and teenage fertility: evidence from North Carolina.(Demography, 2013-12) Ananat, Elizabeth Oltmans; Gassman-Pines, Anna; Gibson-Davis, ChristinaUsing North Carolina data for the period 1990-2010, we estimate the effects of economic downturns on the birthrates of 15- to 19-year-olds, using county-level business closings and layoffs as a plausibly exogenous source of variation in the strength of the local economy. We find little effect of job losses on the white teen birthrate. For black teens, however, job losses to 1 % of the working-age population decrease the birthrate by around 2 %. Birth declines start five months after the job loss and then last for more than one year. Linking the timing of job losses and conceptions suggests that black teen births decline because of increased terminations and perhaps also because of changes in prepregnancy behaviors. National data on risk behaviors also provide evidence that black teens reduce sexual activity and increase contraception use in response to job losses. Job losses seven to nine months after conception do not affect teen birthrates, indicating that teens do not anticipate job losses and lending confidence that job losses are "shocks" that can be viewed as quasi-experimental variation. We also find evidence that relatively advantaged black teens disproportionately abort after job losses, implying that the average child born to a black teen in the wake of job loss is relatively more disadvantaged.Item Open Access Do Recessions Improve the Teenage Obesity Rate?(2011-04-18) Zhang, Amy (Xiaoyue)Recent evidence reveals an interesting relationship between macroeconomic conditions and population health/health behaviors: economic downturns have been correlated with positive effects on overall health and health behaviors, while economic booms have been correlated with the negative effects on overall health and health behaviors. Although studies have established associations between adult health conditions with periods of economic fluctuations, I am interested in how the economy affects the obesity rate of teenagers, a unique age group that captures the transition from puberty to young adulthood—a period of increased independence, decreased parental supervision, and entry into work force. My study helps identify potential behavioral mechanisms behind teenage weight fluctuations and the groups of teenagers most at risk of becoming overweight or obese, requiring the most attention in future efforts to reduce the teenage obesity rate. My analysis does not find overwhelming evidence of healthier behaviors in teenagers in bad economies, except that males are more inclined to enroll in more physical education classes. On the contrary, I find that smoking worsens in both genders. I do find that male weight outcomes improve when the economy declines, reinforcing the relationship between the economy and health that we have yet to better understand.Item Open Access Economic Insecurity, Political Inequality, and the Well-Being of American Families(2020) Bowman, JarronThis dissertation explores the interrelated dynamics of economic and political inequality, economic insecurity, and psychological well-being through three connected empirical studies. The first study adjudicates between conflicting findings in the unequal policy responsiveness literature. Many studies of the relative influence of income groups on U.S. policy have focused on issues over which affluent and average Americans disagree. However, scholars have posited different ways of both defining policy disagreement and measuring policy responsiveness. I assess the impact of 22 definitions of policy disagreement and two methods of measuring policy influence—based on win rates and policy change rates—on analyses of unequal responsiveness. The results of this analysis consistently indicate that U.S. policymaking institutions respond to the preferences of the affluent, but not those of average Americans. The second study examines gendered effects of unemployment on the subjective well-being of different-sex U.S. couples using recent data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). I eliminate the confounding influence of time-invariant person-specific characteristics that could impact both unemployment transitions and well-being through fixed effects analysis. While husbands’ unemployment is negatively associated with wives’ well-being, I find no evidence that wives’ unemployment spills over to impact husbands’ cognitive or affective well-being. The final study looks at the relationship between income change and psychological health and investigates possible asymmetry in this relationship. Analyzing data from the PSID with a combination of first-difference estimation and spline regression, I find support for the hypothesis that income losses have a larger impact than income gains on subjective well-being among partnered adults. The relationships between income changes and well-being are insignificant for single adults. Together, these studies offer new insights into the ways economic power and vulnerability shape the subjective and material realities of life for individuals and families in the United States.
Item Open Access Impact of occupational characteristics on return to work for employed patients after elective lumbar spine surgery.(The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society, 2019-12) Khan, Inamullah; Bydon, Mohamad; Archer, Kristin R; Sivaganesan, Ahilan; Asher, Anthony M; Alvi, Muhammad Ali; Kerezoudis, Panagiotis; Knightly, John J; Foley, Kevin T; Bisson, Erica F; Shaffrey, Christopher; Asher, Anthony L; Spengler, Dan M; Devin, Clinton JBackground context
Low back pain has an immense impact on the US economy. A significant number of patients undergo surgical management in order to regain meaningful functionality in daily life and in the workplace. Return to work (RTW) is a key metric in surgical outcomes, as it has profound implications for both individual patients and the economy at large.Purpose
In this study, we investigated the factors associated with RTW in patients who achieved otherwise favorable outcomes after lumbar spine surgery.Study design/setting
This study retrospectively analyzes prospectively collected data from the lumbar module of national spine registry, the Quality Outcomes Database (QOD).Patient sample
The lumbar module of QOD includes patients undergoing lumbar surgery for primary stenosis, disc herniation, spondylolisthesis (Grade I) and symptomatic mechanical disc collapse or revision surgery for recurrent same-level disc herniation, pseudarthrosis, and adjacent segment disease. Exclusion criteria included age under 18 years and diagnoses of infection, tumor, or trauma as the cause of lumbar-related pain.Outcome measures
The outcome of interest for this study was the return to work 12-month after surgery.Methods
The lumbar module of QOD was queried for patients who were employed at the time of surgery. Good outcomes were defined as patients who had no adverse events (readmissions/complications), had achieved 30% improvement in Oswestry disability index (ODI) and were satisfied (NASS satisfaction) at 3-month post-surgery. Distinct multivariable logistic regression models were fitted with 12-month RTW as outcome for a. overall population and b. the patients with good outcomes. The variables included in the models were age, gender, race, insurance type, education level, occupation type, currently working/on-leave status, workers' compensation, ambulatory status, smoking status, anxiety, depression, symptom duration, number of spinal levels, diabetes, motor deficit, and preoperative back-pain, leg-pain and ODI score.Results
Of the total 12,435 patients, 10,604 (85.3%) had successful RTW at 1-year postsurgery. Among patients who achieved good surgical outcomes, 605 (7%) failed to RTW. For both the overall and subgroup analysis, older patients had lower odds of RTW. Females had lower odds of RTW compared with males and patients with higher back pain and baseline ODI had lower odds of RTW. Patients with longer duration of symptoms, more physically demanding occupations, worker's compensation claim and those who had short-term disability leave at the time of surgery had lower odds of RTW independent of their good surgical outcomes.Conclusions
This study identifies certain risk factors for failure to RTW independent of surgical outcomes. Most of these risk factors are occupational; hence, involving the patient's employer in treatment process and setting realistic expectations may help improve the patients' work-related functionality.Item Open Access Military Service and Civilian Labor Market Outcomes: Comparing Employment of Post-9/11 Veterans and Nonveterans(2016-01-05) Ordway, MatthewVeterans struggle to enter the civilian labor market following military service. Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, over 3.2 million Americans have served in the military. Upon returning home, these veterans are twenty percent more likely to be unemployed than nonveterans (7.2% vs 6%, respectively). This study investigates the association between military service and employment outcomes (employment status and weekly earnings) for post-9/11 veterans, a heretofore understudied group. Data was obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS) Veteran Supplement. Linear probability models and OLS regressions were utilized to compare employment outcomes between veterans and nonveterans of similar age, education and race/ethnicity (“veteran effect”). Findings suggest that the veteran effect on employment is negative while the veteran effect on earnings, given employment, is positive. This is likely because of selection bias; the most productive veterans find employment and therefore command higher wages. Veteran effects differ by race and ethnicity, length of military service and time since service. Policymakers should tailor transition programs to the most vulnerable veterans, such as long-term military personnel.Item Open Access Securing the Right to Work: The History and Future of Job Guarantees(2022-12-09) Hoffman, AlexFor over a century, politicians, economists, and activists have struggled to sustainably reduce unemployment. Several policymakers have begun to advocate for a bold solution that has only recently returned to the mainstream of American politics: a federal job guarantee where the government eliminates unemployment through direct job creation for workers excluded from the labor market. Discussions surrounding the program’s practical details, including how it would be structured and how central tradeoffs would be mitigated, have significantly lagged conversations about the guarantee’s macroeconomic principles. This thesis will examine five case studies to identify variables that influence operational success and tradeoffs that must be addressed. These variables and tradeoffs will inform the design of a job guarantee optimized for the United States. Three of the case studies have been implemented: the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the United States, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in India, and Jefes y Jefas de Hogar Desocupados (Jefes) in Argentina. The other two are recent proposals for the United States by Paul et al. (2018) and Tcherneva (2018). Each implemented program was shielded from addressing the difficulties associated with universal coverage because variables specific to its national political-economic environment limited the program’s scope. Furthermore, current proposals neglect significant details like training and rehabilitation and ignore potentially compromising tradeoffs. An optimal guarantee would strike a balance between decentralized and centralized models, empowering local communities to design projects best suited to meet their needs while providing uniform oversight and resources to address disparities and combat discrimination.Item Open Access The effect of involuntary job loss on smoking intensity and relapse.(Addiction, 2005-09) Falba, Tracy; Teng, Hsun-Mei; Sindelar, Jody L; Gallo, William TAIMS: To assess the impact of involuntary job loss due to plant closure or layoff on relapse to smoking and smoking intensity among older workers. DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, SAMPLE: Data come from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of older Americans aged 51-61 in 1991 followed every 2 years beginning in 1992. The 3052 participants who were working at the initial wave and had any history of smoking comprise the main sample. METHODS: Primary outcomes are smoking relapse at wave 2 (1994) among baseline former smokers, and smoking quantity at wave 2 among baseline current smokers. As reported at the wave 2 follow-up, 6.8% of the sample experienced an involuntary job loss between waves 1 and 2. FINDINGS: Older workers have over two times greater odds of relapse subsequent to involuntary job loss than those who did not. Further, those who were current smokers prior to displacement that did not obtain new employment were found to be smoking more cigarettes, on average, post-job loss. CONCLUSIONS: The stress of job loss, along with other significant changes associated with leaving one's job, which would tend to increase cigarette consumption, must outweigh the financial hardship which would tend to reduce consumption. This highlights job loss as an important health risk factor for older smokers.Item Open Access The impact of late career job loss on myocardial infarction and stroke: a 10 year follow up using the health and retirement survey.(Occup Environ Med, 2006-10) Gallo, WT; Teng, HM; Falba, TA; Kasl, SV; Krumholz, HM; Bradley, EHBACKGROUND: Involuntary job loss is a major life event associated with social, economic, behavioural, and health outcomes, for which older workers are at elevated risk. OBJECTIVE: To assess the 10 year risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke associated with involuntary job loss among workers over 50 years of age. METHODS: Analysing data from the nationally representative US Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to estimate whether workers who suffered involuntary job loss were at higher risk for subsequent MI and stroke than individuals who continued to work. The sample included 4301 individuals who were employed at the 1992 study baseline. RESULTS: Over the 10 year study frame, 582 individuals (13.5% of the sample) experienced involuntary job loss. After controlling for established predictors of the outcomes, displaced workers had a more than twofold increase in the risk of subsequent MI (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.49 to 4.14) and stroke (HR = 2.43; 95% CI = 1.18 to 4.98) relative to working persons. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that the true costs of late career unemployment exceed financial deprivation, and include substantial health consequences. Physicians who treat individuals who lose jobs as they near retirement should consider the loss of employment a potential risk factor for adverse vascular health changes. Policy makers and programme planners should also be aware of the risks of job loss, so that programmatic interventions can be designed and implemented to ease the multiple burdens of joblessness.Item Open Access The job stability of men working in gender non-traditional jobs(2011-04-22) Domnisoru, CiprianAnalyzing Current Population Survey (CPS) Tenure Supplements from 2004 through 2010 and five years of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97 cohort (NLSY97) data from 2004-2008, I find that the job stability of men working in gender non-traditional occupations is lower than that of men in gender traditional or gender neutral occupations. Looking at a classification of gender non-traditional occupations into educational, medical and secretarial, I find significant differences between the three groups, with high tenure in the first and low tenure in the other two. These findings contradict some of the (feminist) sociological literature that suggests men have higher job stability in gender non-traditional occupations because of upward mobility expectations and preferential treatment from male managers and supervisors. The assertion that for men, job stability is a benefit of working in gender non-traditional occupations is widely publicized by community college career websites, state departments of education, some academic studies and organizations of professionals working in gender non-traditional occupations. Such a generalization is simply misleading, as this study shows. Additional findings in this study contribute to the literature on the outcomes of men working in gender non-traditional occupations. I find that men employed in these occupations are more likely to have been threatened to be hurt at school, to have been raised in a Catholic household and less likely to have been raised in a Baptist household. My study finds evidence that self-reported job satisfaction is highest among men in gender non-traditional occupations, raising further questions about the utility that some men find in working in these occupations, given that their choices contradict theories of occupational choice (Gottfredson) and identity (Akerlof and Kranton).Item Open Access The Role of the Family as an Informal Insurance Mechanism(2013) Dalton, Michael RobertThis dissertation examines the extent of different forms of informal insurance provided by both co-resident and non-co-resident family members. Primarily relying on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a unique, longitudinal survey dataset from the United States, this dissertation provides new insight on the importance and unique motives that may drive interactions between family members. These two essays investigate the different forms of assistance that the family uses in two different contexts: in response to unemployment and health conditions. The results in this paper provide new insight into the role that informal interactions can have on decisions and behavior. This research suggests new direction for future economic models dealing with the family, networks, risk, unemployment, health, and location decisions. The overarching theme is that decisions are made jointly across households, not just within a household.