Duration of unemployment and self-perceived health in Europe

This study investigates the potential impact of employment loss on self-perceived health according to the duration of national levels of unemployment in EU member states during 2004-2012. The principal findings were that the total unemployment rate, long-term unemployment (LTU) rate and very long-term unemployment (VLTU) rate were all strongly related to increased reports of bad and very bad self-perceived health. In fact, the impact of unemployment (i.e., effects based on the coefficients) increased in a ‘dose-response’ manner with the total unemployment rate showing the smallest coefficient, the LTU rate showing a greater coefficient, and the VLTU rate showing the strongest impact in terms of increasingly bad and very bad self-reported health. The findings complement existing evidence that identified unemployment as an important risk factor for heart disease mortality at the start of the 2008/2009 recession.