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The effects of differential unemployment rate increases of occupation groups on changes in mortality
1Department of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Finland. pekka.martikainen@helsinki.fi
Objectives:
This study estimated the effects of changes in unemployment rates of occupation groups on changes in mortality in a period of increasing unemployment.
Methods:
Census records for all 20- to 64-year-old economically active Finnish men in 1985 were linked to information on unemployment and deaths in 1987 through 1993.
Results:
Change in mortality was similar in occupation groups in which unemployment rates increased at a different pace. These relationships were similar for all age groups and for mortality from diseases as well as accidents and violence.
Conclusions:
Unemployment does not seem to cause mortality in the short term. Excess mortality rates among unemployed individuals observed in previous studies may have been due in part to selection.