Employment & Unemployment
Health & work
For people in paid employment, there are certain aspects of work that can affect health. Over
the past few years the issue of job security has been recognised as important for well-being. The move
towards less secure, short term employment affects most of us, but is especially important for less
skilled manual workers. A number of studies have shown how having a greater degree of control over our work
is associated with positive health benefits, lower coronary heart disease, musculoskeletel disorders,
less mental illness and fewer episodes of sickness absence. Amongst the most famous examples are the series
of studies of civil servants in Whitehall - all people in paid relatively secure work - yet for whom
there are significant and enduring health gradients associating the lower income groups with the worst health.
For some occupations the workplace may bring its own particular hazards, with greater degree of workplace injury
(see section on Injuries).
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Health & unemployment
Unemployment is a significant risk factor for a number of health indicators. The effects can be linked to
poverty and low income amongst the unemployed. There are also significant psychological consequences from being out of work,
especially for the long term unemployed. In addition, our work can play an important role in our social networks and the ways we participate in society.
Unemployed people are found to have:
- Lower levels of psychological well-being which may range from symptoms of depression and anxiety through to self harm and suicide.
- Higher rates of morbidity - such as limiting long term illness.
- Higher rates of premature mortality, in particular for coronary heart disease and injuries and poisoning including suicide.
There is also the effect that people with poorer health are more likely to be unemployed - this is particularly
true for people with long term disabilities. However, this does not explain the finding of poorer health amongst the unemployed. It is thought that the ways
that unemployment lead to poorer health include:
- Effects of increased poverty and material deprivation. These can be particularly acute for people in manual occupations, who tend to be on lower incomes anyway.
- Social exclusion, isolation and stigma.
- Changes in health related behaviour.
- Disruption to longer term careers.
Policies that increase levels of employment are therefore likely to have a significant health benefit for
individuals and for the local community. There are also policies which can indirectly improve opportunities for work.
In particular, education and training programmes can help to enhance the chances of obtaining a job. For the parents
for young children, access to day care and family friendly employment policies can also make a critical difference
in terms of being able to work or not.
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Labour market in London
Routine statistics on levels of unemployment suggest, that since the early 1990's, rates of unemployment in
London have been consistently higher than UK averages. There are two main ways to assess levels of unemployment - either claimant counts or the International
Labour Office (ILO) definitions (see later section). Unemployment figures also show strong seasonal trends and fluctuate with economic cycles.
Unemployment rates have fallen from a peak in around 1993-1994 and are currently around 7-8%. Yet unemployment
rates can vary between different groups.
- At borough level values vary three fold (on ILO definitions) ranging from 4-5% up to 15%.
- Rates for younger people under 25, are highest, these group made up nearly a fifth of all London unemployed in Spring 1999.
- Rates amongst minority ethnic groups are consistently higher.
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Like many countries, the UK publishes two measures of unemployment. One is an administrative measure called the claimant
count and comes from a monthly count of those claiming unemployment-related benefits. The other measure comes from the Labour
Force Survey, which incorporates a measure of unemployment based on international standards recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
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Claimant count
The major strength of this measure is that is available quickly (monthly) and at relatively little expense. It is a 100% count,
and so precise information can be obtained for small geographic areas. A disadvantage of the claimant count is that it can be affected
if there are changes to the benefit system from which it is derived. Before 1982, people claiming unemployment-related benefits had to
register for work and this register provided the basis for monthly unemployment data known as the 'registrant count'. Registration then
became voluntary, so in order to avoid undercounting, the monthly count has since then been based on those actually claiming
unemployment-related benefits at local Employment Offices.
Data are collected on National Insurance number, address, occupation, sex, date of birth, marital status (for women) and the
start and termination dates of claims. Therefore, data are provided on the number of unemployed claimants on one particular
day of each month (the 'stock') as well as the numbers joining and leaving the count each month (the 'flows'). Analyses by age
of claimant and duration of claim are carried out quarterly. Detailed anonymised information is also available on the unemployment
history of a 5% sample of individual claimants known as the claimant count cohort.
The claimant count is available for local authority wards using claimants' postcode details. The ward-based counts are the
basis for aggregating up to larger geographic areas. Ward boundaries are frozen to match geographies at the last census in order
to allow comparisons to be made over time.
There is a five week gap between the date to which the figures refer and the date of their publication. Figures are first
published in the ONS monthly Labour Market Statistics First Release and are subsequently published in the ONS monthly journal,
Labour Market Trends. Data are also available through subscription to NOMIS, an ONS on-line database providing a comprehensive
source of official labour market statistics covering employment, unemployment, vacancies, earnings and demographics (contact 0191
374 2468 for more details).
For further information contact LMD1 (Unemployment Statistics) at ONS (1 Drummond Gate, London SW1V 2QQ) on 020 7533 6176.
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International standard ILO measure
It is a legal requirement for every country in the European Union to conduct a Labour Force Survey at least once a year.
It is the most extensive regular household survey in the United Kingdom. Interviews cover sample of more than 63,000 households
comprising approximately 120,000 people aged 16 or over. The survey has been conducted quarterly since spring 1992, before when
it was conducted annually and bi-annually prior to 1984.
Data are collected on respondent's personal circumstances and their activities in the labour market. Respondents are
classified into one of three internationally standard categories:
- In employment, as employees, self-employed, on Government supported training and employment programmes or as unpaid family workers.
- ILO unemployed, defined as all those who were without a job at the time the survey was conducted and who were able to
start work within the next fortnight and had actively looked for work in the last four weeks or had recently found a job
and were waiting to start.
- Economically inactive, including those looking after a house, those in retirement and children aged under 16 years, but also
including those without work who are not actively seeking or available for employment.
- ILO employment rates are calculated by expressing the number of ILO unemployed residents in an area as a percentage of that
area's resident and economically active population (i.e. the total of persons who are either in employment or ILO unemployed).
Key results from the Labour Force Survey, including the ILO unemployment measure, are published about
1½ months after the survey period by ONS. Full results are published about 2 months later in the Labour Force Survey Quarterly Supplement.
Main Labour Force Survey results are also published in the ONS monthly journal Labour Market Trends. Results are also available via NOMIS (see
above) and Quantime, a dial-up or PC service through which historical and current Labour Force Survey tables can be accessed (contact 020
7625 7222 for more details).
For further information contact LMD1 (Unemployment Statistics) at ONS (1 Drummond Gate, London SW1V 2QQ) on 020 7533 6180.
A key difference between the two counts described above is that the claimant count records the number of unemployed people
on a particular day each month whereas the Labour Force Survey records the number of unemployed averaged over a three month period.
The Labour Force Survey does ask respondents whether they are claiming unemployment-related benefits, so it is possible
to see how many people are unemployed on both measures (see Labour Force Survey Quarterly Bulletin). Whilst overall totals are relatively similar
and the majority of unemployed people are counted in both measures, there are discrepancies. For example, the ILO measure will draw in some
people who are either ineligible for unemployment-related benefits or who choose not to register for a claim. The claimant count takes in
those with relatively low earnings from part time work but who are also legitimately claiming some unemployment-related benefits - under the
ILO measure these people would count as technically employed if they worked for more than one hour per week. There is a significant disparity
between the sexes - more men are included in the claimant count than on the ILO measure, whilst the reverse is true for women. There is also
a disparity between age groups - the ILO measure records more people in older and younger age groups than the claimant count, whilst for
intermediate age groups the reverse is true. A key consideration for looking at unemployment rates on the two measures for London and other
inner city areas is the effect of inward commuting. The ILO unemployment rate is based on the resident economically active population. The claimant
count unemployment rate is largely based on the number of jobs in each area and therefore on the population whose place of work is in the area.
Therefore, inner cities, especially Inner London and particularly The City of London, can have rates that vary markedly between the two measures
and the ILO rate will be higher than the equivalent claimant count rate.
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