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While U.S. unemployment rates remain low, rates of job loss are high and rising. Job loss is also becoming increasingly common in more advantaged, white-collar occupations. This article is concerned with how these patterns impact the health of U.S. workers. Drawing on recent data from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I find that job loss harms health, beyond sicker people being more likely to lose their jobs. Respondents who lost jobs but were reemployed at the survey faced an increased risk of developing new health conditions; they were not, however, more likely to describe their health in negative terms. This suggests that recent job "churning" within the United States (i.e., high rates of job loss but low unemployment) may impact certain health outcomes but not others. I find no evidence that the health consequences of job loss differ across white- and blue-collar occupations, although health-related selection out of jobs appears stronger within the blue-collar category.
Although the United States has managed to keep unemployment rates consistently low over the past several years (varying between 5% and 6% since 1997), rates of job loss are considerably higher and rising (from about 8.5% to 12% since 1997; Farber 2005; U.S. Department of Labor 2005). Recent decades have also witnessed an increase in white-collar job loss and unemployment. As professional and managerial jobs have become increasingly vulnerable to downsizing, higher socioeconomic groups are experiencing increased job instability, and the risk of job loss is becoming more equally distributed by socioeconomic status (Farber 2005). This article addresses how these labor market patterns impact the health of U.S. workers.
For decades, it has been documented that socioeconomic shocks, such as job loss, are associated with poor health (Beal and Nethercott 1987; Bjorklund 1985; Catalano and Dooley 1983; Catalano et al. 1993; Jahoda, Lazarsfeld, and Zeisel 1971 [1933]; Korpi 2001; Wadsworth, Montgomery, and Bartley 1999). And for decades, these results have remained controversial, raising questions about whether they reflect the health consequences of socioeconomic shocks, or the fact that sicker people are more likely to suffer a shock. It is important to revisit the potential health effects of job loss within a more recent socioeconomic/labor market context. Increases in U.S. income inequality have been well documented, and there...