Differential Impact of Involuntary Job Loss on Physical Disability Among Older Workers Does Predisposition Matter?

Older workers' share of involuntary job losses in the United States has grown fairly consistently in recent decades, prompting greater interest in the health consequences of involuntary unemployment among individuals nearing retirement. In this study, the authors applied the multifactorial model of geriatric health to investigate whether late-career involuntary job loss was associated with subsequent physical disability and whether the effect of involuntary job loss on physical disability varied by predisposition. Using data from the first four waves (1992 to 1998) of the Health and Retirement Survey, the authors measured predisposition with individual risk factors for functional disability and indices of aggregate risk.

Older Workers: Who are the working poor in the U.S.?

With data from the 2000 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the purpose of this study was to provide a profile of older workers who live poverty, and to compare the demographic, financial, employment, and health attributes of such individuals to similar persons not living in poverty. This study found that 3.5% of employed individuals between the ages of 51 and 61 belonged to the class of working poor.

Use of preventive care by the working poor in the United States.

Objective: Examine the association between poverty and preventive care use among older working adults.

Method: Cross-sectional analysis of the pooled 1996, 1998 and 2000 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative sample of older community-dwelling adults, studying self-reported use of cervical, breast, and prostate cancer screening, as well as serum cholesterol screening and influenza vaccination. Adults with incomes within 200% of the federal poverty level were defined as poor.

The effects of economic deprivation on psychological well-being among the working population of Switzerland.

Background: The association between poverty and mental health has been widely investigated. There is, however, limited evidence of mental health implications of working poverty, despite its representing a rapidly expanding segment of impoverished populations in many developed nations. In this study, we examined whether working poverty in Switzerland, a country with substantial recent growth among the working poor, was correlated with two dependent variables of interest: psychological health and unmet mental health need.

The persistence of depressive symptoms in older workers who experience involuntary job loss: results from the health and retirement survey.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between involuntary job loss among workers nearing retirement and long-term changes in depressive symptoms.

Methods: Analyzing data from the first four waves (1992-1998) of the Health and Retirement Survey, we used longitudinal multiple regression in order to assess whether involuntary job loss between Wave 1 and Wave 2 was associated with depressive symptoms at Wave 3 and Wave 4. The study sample included 231 workers who had experienced job loss in the Wave 1-Wave 2 interval and a comparison group of 3,324 nondisplaced individuals.

The effect of recurrent involuntary job loss on the depressive symptoms of older US workers.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess whether recurrent involuntary job loss among US workers nearing retirement resulted in increasingly less severe changes in depressive symptoms with successive job losses.

Methods: With data drawn from the US Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), we used repeated measures longitudinal analysis to investigate the effect of recurrent job loss on follow-up depressive symptoms, measured up to 2 years following job loss. Study participants include 617 individuals, aged 51-61 years at the 1992 study baseline, who had at least one job loss between 1990 and 2000.

The effect of involuntary job loss on smoking intensity and relapse.

Aims: To assess the impact of involuntary job loss due to plant closure or layoff on relapse to smoking and smoking intensity among older workers. DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, SAMPLE: Data come from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of older Americans aged 51-61 in 1991 followed every 2 years beginning in 1992. The 3052 participants who were working at the initial wave and had any history of smoking comprise the main sample.