Barlow Pepita, Reeves Aaron, McKee Martin, Stuckler David
Bennett Institute for Public Policy, Department of Politics and International Studies University of Cambridge Cambridge UK.
International Inequalities Institute London School of Economics and Political Science London UK.
Soc Policy Adm. 2019 Dec;53(7):939-957. doi: 10.1111/spol.12487. Epub 2019 Feb 14.
Sociologists have long acknowledged that being in a precarious labour market position, whether employed or unemployed, can harm peoples' health. However, scholars have yet to fully investigate the possible contextual, institutional determinants of this relationship. Two institutions that were overlooked in previous empirical studies are the regulations that set minimum compensation for dismissal, severance payments, and entitlements to a period of notice before dismissal, notice periods. These institutions may be important for workers' health as they influence the degree of insecurity that workers are exposed to. Here, we test this hypothesis by examining whether longer notice periods and greater severance payments protect the health of labour market participants, both employed and unemployed. We constructed two cohorts of panel data before and during the European recession using data from 22 countries in the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (person years = 338,000). We find more generous severance payments significantly reduce the probability that labour market participants, especially the unemployed, will experience declines in self-reported health, with a slightly weaker relationship for longer notice periods.
社会学家早就认识到，处于不稳定的劳动力市场状况，无论就业与否，都会损害人们的健康。然而，学者们尚未充分研究这种关系可能的背景、制度决定因素。在以往的实证研究中被忽视的两个制度是规定解雇最低补偿、遣散费以及解雇前通知期（通知期限）权利的法规。这些制度可能对工人的健康很重要，因为它们影响着工人面临的不安全程度。在此，我们通过检验更长的通知期和更高的遣散费是否能保护劳动力市场参与者（包括就业者和失业者）的健康来验证这一假设。我们利用欧盟收入和生活条件统计中22个国家的数据，构建了欧洲衰退之前和期间的两个面板数据集（人年数 = 338,000）。我们发现，更丰厚的遣散费显著降低了劳动力市场参与者，尤其是失业者，自我报告健康状况下降的可能性，而通知期较长时这种关系则稍弱。
