Misery Loves Company? A Meta-Regression Examining Aggregate Unemployment Rates and the Unemployment-Mortality Association

• In Event: 378 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session II
  In Refereed Roundtable: B. Table 05. Work and Occupations

Abstract

Individual-level unemployment has been consistently linked to poor health and higher mortality, but some scholars have suggested that the negative effect of job loss may be lower when aggregate unemployment rates are high. We review three logics associated with this moderation hypothesis: health selection, social isolation, and unemployment stigma. We then test whether aggregate unemployment rates moderate the individual-level association between unemployment and all-cause mortality. To do so, we use a meta-regression model based on 62 relative all-cause mortality risk estimates from 36 studies. Studies were identified by searching Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science; and through an extensive iterative hand search of the literature. We find no relationship between the aggregate unemployment rate and the magnitude of the individual-level unemployment-mortality association. The magnitude of the individual-level unemployment-mortality association is approximately the same during periods of high and low aggregate-level unemployment. The findings suggest that unemployment experiences do not easily change when macro-economic conditions change. Therefore, efforts to ameliorate the negative social and economic consequences of unemployment should continue to focus on the individual and should be maintained regardless of periodic changes in macro-economic conditions.

Authors

• David John Roelfs, University of Louisville

• Eran Shor, McGill University

• Aharon Blank, McGill University