Does provision of targeted health care for the unemployed enhance re-employment?

Background: There is increasing pressure to develop services to enhance the health of the workforce on the periphery of the labour market. Health promotion among unemployed people may improve their health but also to increase their employability. We tested whether re-employment can be enhanced with a health care intervention targeted at the unemployed.

Employment trajectories and changes in sense of coherence.

Background: Knowledge of the associations between labour market position and sense of coherence (SOC) comes mainly from cross-sectional studies. We investigated whether change in employment status is associated with change in SOC and whether such an association varies when young (<30 years) and older employees are compared.

Methods: Data were derived from two studies: a cohort of initially non-permanent employees (n = 1898) was followed up for four years, and a cohort representing the national workforce (n = 9623) was followed up for five years.

Sense of coherence and attrition during four-year follow-up in cohorts of permanent and non-permanent Finnish employees.

Background: We studied whether health resources, measured as sense of coherence (SOC), are associated with participation in a follow-up survey among permanent and non-permanent employees who responded at baseline.

Methods: Of a cohort of 5,981 permanent employees, those who after four years were still in the service of the same employer were asked to participate in a follow-up survey. Another cohort consisted of 2,194 fixed-term and 682 subsidised employees; among these the follow-up survey was posted to those whose addresses were found in the population register.

Labor market trajectories and health: a four-year follow-up study of initially fixed-term employees.

With the growth of atypical employment, there is increasing concern about the potential health-damaging effects of unstable employment. This prospective study of Finnish public-sector employees in 1998-2002 examined labor market trajectories and changes in health. At entry, all participants had a fixed-term job contract.

Social capital in working life and the health of employees.

It is commonly assumed that social capital influences health, but only few studies have examined this hypothesis in the context of the workplace. The present prospective cohort study of 6028 public sector employees in Finland investigated social capital as a workplace characteristic which potentially affects employee health. The two indicators of social capital were trust in the labour market, measured by security of the employment contract, and trust in co-worker support.