Are there health benefits of being unionized in late career? A longitudinal approach using HRS

Does the Union Make Us Strong? Labor-Union Membership, Self-Rated Health, and Mental Illness: A Parametric G-Formula Approach

Union members enjoy better wages and benefits and greater power than nonmembers, which can improve health. However, the longitudinal union-health relationship remains uncertain, partially because of healthy-worker bias, which cannot be addressed without high-quality data and methods that account for exposure-confounder feedback and structural nonpositivity. Applying one such method, the parametric g-formula, to US-based Panel Study of Income Dynamics data, we analyzed the longitudinal relationships between union membership, poor/fair self-rated health (SRH), and moderate mental illness (Kessler 6-item score of ≥5). The SRH analyses included 16,719 respondents followed from 1985-2017, while the mental-illness analyses included 5,813 respondents followed from 2001-2017. Using the parametric g-formula, we contrasted cumulative incidence of the outcomes under 2 scenarios, one in which we set all employed-person-years to union-member employed-person-years (union scenario), and one in which we set no employed-person-years to union-member employed-person-years (nonunion scenario). We also examined whether the contrast varied by sex, sex and race, and sex and education. Overall, the union scenario was not associated with reduced incidence of poor/fair SRH (relative risk = 1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.95, 1.09; risk difference = 0.01, 95% CI: -0.03, 0.04) or moderate mental illness (relative risk = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.92, 1.12; risk difference = 0.01, 95% CI: -0.04, 0.06) relative to the nonunion scenario. These associations largely did not vary by subgroup.

The role of labour unions in explaining workers' mental and physical health in Great Britain. A longitudinal approach

OBJECTIVES

To assess whether there are mental and physical health benefits of being employed in a workplace where there is a union or staff association recognized by the management or being a member of such a union.

METHODS

Using four waves [W2 (2010-11), W4 (2012-13), W6 (2014-15), W8 (2016-18)] from Understanding Society (UKHLS), we use a propensity score matching method and apply a latent growth modeling on the original dataset and on the matched dataset to estimate the impact of change in union presence and union membership between wave 2 and wave 4 for the employed population on the change in mental health (Mental Component Summary - MCS) and physical health (Physical Component Summary - PCS), after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics, age and sector of activity.

RESULTS

Collective negotiation within the workplace plays a statistically significant role in supporting workers' mental and, to a greater degree, physical health. Being unionized does not add up significant physical health benefits but a slight positive effect on mental health is observed.

CONCLUSION

About 50 per cent of the employed population is not represented by a labour union at company level and this has negative effects on health. A major health policy issue is also about promoting collective negotiation at the workplace and more research is needed about the impact of implementing such type of negotiation. The study shows the benefits of using a longitudinal approach when analysing the impact of union presence and union membership on workers' health.

The association between self-reported health, late career transitions and working time modulations in England

Purpose

There is an emerging literature focusing on the impact of late career transitions on health, but little is known so far about the role working time modulations might play in explaining older workers’ health. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Waves 4–7, the paper assesses the association between the different types of change in working time, the total weekly working hours at baseline and the level of income and the change in Self-perceived health (SPH). The model controls for financial wealth, qualification, gender, age, the sector of activity and self-reported health at baseline.

Findings

Respondents who retire have a better SPH compared with those who keep working at constant working time. Those who work long hours benefit more from retiring. Respondents working long hours before being unemployed tend to be less affected by a negative change in SPH. Those who reduce working time by 50 per cent or more and work long hours at baseline have lower probabilities to be affected by a negative change in SPH compared with those who work fewer hours. Finally, low-paid workers are those who benefit the most from retiring or reducing working time.

Social implications

Results point out the need to foster working time arrangements for low-paid workers to prevent adverse health impacts.

Originality/value

There is a significant association between change in working time and change in self-reported health that has not been examined by previous studies.

Assessing the impact of partial early retirement on self-perceived health, depression level and quality of life in Belgium: a longitudinal perspective using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

For about 20 years, Belgium has successfully implemented working-time reduction policies for the older workforce. However, the impact of such policies on health has not been explored yet. Using longitudinal data from Waves 5 and 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (N = 1,498), the paper assesses whether working-time reduction in late career is associated with a change in self-perceived health, depression (EURO-D) and quality of life (CASP-12). For that purpose, ordered logit and ordinary least squares regressions are performed, using four different models for defining working-time reductions. Results show that people reducing working time with or without additional social benefits tend to have a poorer self-perceived health at follow-up compared with people keeping the same or increasing working time. By comparison, people moving to retirement are more likely to present a better self-perceived health, depression level and quality of life compared to people increasing or keeping the same working-time level. Although, introducing an interaction effect, the paper shows that the change in quality of life for respondents reducing working hours in addition to social benefits tends to be less negative for those who wished to retire early at baseline than for those who did not.