Labour market epidemiology – the unequal employment consequences of long term illness

The employment rate among citizens with long term illness varies considerably between countries and over time, and shows particularly strong variation among low educated. Many European countries are concerned with a growing number of the elderly workforce leaving employment in spite of an overall improvement of health and functional ability in those age groups. Other paradoxical findings is the declining employment rate among low educated long term during periods of deregulations of labour market e.g. in UK during the 1980s.

In spite of several economic and educational efforts the number out of work on social benefits is unchanged around 800.000 in Denmark. It turns out that one of the explanations is declining health conditions in this group, particularly mental health among those on means tested benefits. Studies are based on register data covering the Danish population 1980-2015, similar register data from the other Scandinavian countries and Survey data incl the European SILC and SHARE data. 

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