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Summary Challenges in work, health and well-being ISW UU: Lectures + literature
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Summary of 119 pages for the course Challenges in Work, Health and Wellbeing at UU
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LECTURE 1- INTRODUCTION1.1 INTRODUCTION
WHY IS THIS TOPIC IMPORTANT?
- Work is an important part of people’s wellbeing, including SES, prestige and identity.
- Work is a major cause of illness and injury, weighing heavily on the health care
budgets of welfare states.
- Health effects of work are an area of growing policy attention in an ageing society
1.2 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY WORK, HEALTH & WELL -BEING?
WHAT IS WORK?
- Paid and unpaid work
o Productive labor→ work that is performed for pay in the economy
o Reproductive labor→ work that is performed unpaid, that is sustaining the
workforce (raising children, household tasks, taking care of the elderly)
o Whether work is paid or unpaid may differ across time and place
- Employment
o Employment→ paid work outside the household, including the informal
sector.
o Employment (Ahonen et al.)→ legal relationship that buyers of labor have to
sellers of labor. This relationship determines the obligations, responsibilities,
and expectations of employers and employees in that relationship
- Jobs
o When we talk about people’s work, we tend to talk about their jobs
o Jobs are situated descriptions of employment, that take into account where
and how work is performed. This is dependent on:
▪ Occupation
▪ Working conditions
▪ Job characteristics
WHAT ARE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING?
Health→ is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity but a state of complete physical,
mental and social well-being.
Well-being→ the combination of feeling good and functioning well. The experience of
positive emotions such as happiness and contentment as well as the development of one’s
potential, having control over one’s life, having a sense of purpose and experiencing positive
relationships.
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,HOW DOES WORK AFFECT HEALTH AND WELL-BEING?
Work affects health and well-being in complex, reciprocal and heterogeneous ways.
o Complex
▪ Work affects health/wellbeing differently in different circumstances
▪ Work can be both health-enhancing and health-damaging at the same
time
o Reciprocal
▪ Causal relations run in both directions.
▪ Work affects health and well-being, health and well-being affect work
o Heterogeneous
▪ Work affects the health/well-being of different groups of workers
differently.
Work can have a positive impact on well-being and health.
- Well-being rewards of employment include
o Income, social status
o Identity, sense of purpose
o Social networks
- Health rewards of employment include
o Better self-reported physical and mental health
o Psycho-social resources (e.g. fulfillment, connectedness)
o Cheaper health insurances and benefits
Work can have a negative impact on well-being and health
- 10% of workers report a work-related health problem
- 7,5% report a work-related health problem that results in limitations of daily
activities
- This differs across countries
- Employment exposes workers to physical and mental health demands or risks.
- Some work poses physical demands:
o Exposure to hazards (e.g. productions
and use of harmful substances,
operation of heavy machinery)
o Repetitive overuse (e.g. lifting of heavy
objects, mouse arm)
o Working conditions (e.g. long hours,
night work)
- Some work poses psycho-social demands
(stressors)
o Stress enhancing forms of work organizations (insecurity, scheduling)
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, o Stressful/traumatic interpersonal encounters
o Work pressure
COSTS OF SICKNESS- WHY WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT ADVERSE HEALTH IMPACTS
OF WORK
When physical or psycho-social risks lead to ill health, this affects both the individuals who
get sick and their families, the employers they work for, and society as a whole.
Individuals, employers and welfare states incur costs due incapacity to work or illness at
work:
- The individual (e.g. lost earnings, health care costs, experience decreases in well-
being/quality of life)
- Employers (e.g. sick pay, cost to replace employee, reintegration costs)
- Society/welfare state (e.g. lower general health and well-being, health care costs that
are increasing, decreased tax base
WHY SHOULD WE IMPROVE THE RELATION BETWEEN WHW?
- Welfare states aim to ensure the health and well-being of its population and attempt
to mitigate the negative effects of employment
- In ageing societies with high retirement ages, managing health conditions at work
becomes an increasingly large area of attention
- European welfare states aim to increase the share of workers capable of performing
paid work
o Cost of sickness/disability/unemployment benefits and health care
o Delaying retirement in the context of an ageing population; making sure
people are able to work longer
3
, o Reinforce pro-work narratives of deservingness trying to communicate the
message that work is good, that it pays off.
TAKE-AWAY MESSAGES
- Work and health/well-being affect each other in both negative and positive ways
- Employment exposes workers to physical and psycho-social demands (risks) and
resources (rewards)
- Employment and unemployment co-determine workers’ place in societal hierarchies
and networks, which affect well-being
- Managing health and illness at work over the life course is an important policy goal
for modern welfare states and work organizations
1.3 THE UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE HEALTH/WELL -BEING RISKS AND
REWARDS OF WORK
HEALTH INEQUALITY AT WORK
- Employment is associated with physical and psycho-social resources as well as
demands
- These demands and resources are not distributed equally or randomly across the
population
- There is a broad consensus on the existence of a ‘social gradient’ in health
- The social gradient implies that health inequalities mirror wider social inequalities:
poorest, least qualified population are most likely to experience low-quality paid
employment which is more insecure and potentially more prejudicial to health
DISTRIBUTION OF JOB RISKS AN D REWARDS
- Health inequalities mirror labor market inequalities
- Labor markets are unequal institutions
1. Social/occupational class theory→ working class at the bottom is working
long hours for low wages. At the top, the owners of businesses work less for
more money. Upper/lower middle class are in more secure situations, but
selling their labor
2. Labour market segmentation→ insiders take up good jobs (good contracts,
decent wages, working conditions). Outsiders (youngsters, women,
migrants) take on insecure, bad jobs that are often worse paid and have a
range of bad outcomes.
LABOUR MARKET INEQUALITIES
Labor market inequalities are related to:
- Earnings
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