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Health and the 2008 Economic Recession: Evidence from the United Kingdom

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  • Thomas Astell-Burt
  • Xiaoqi Feng

Abstract

Introduction: The economic recession which began in 2008 has resulted in a substantial increase in unemployment across many countries, including the United Kingdom. Strong association between unemployment and poor health status among individuals is widely recognised. We investigated whether the prevalence of poor health at a population level increased concurrent to the rise in unemployment during the economic recession, and whether the impact on health varied by geographical and socioeconomic circumstances. Method: Health, demographic and socioeconomic measures on 1.36 million survey responses aged 16–64 were extracted from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey of the United Kingdom, collected every three months, from January 2006 to December 2010. The likelihood of self-reporting poor health status and specific types of health problems (depression, mental illness, cardiovascular and respiratory) across time were estimated separately using logistic regression. Explanatory variables included economic status (International Labour Organization definition), occupational class, age, gender, country of birth, ethnicity, educational qualifications, couple status, household tenure, number of dependents, and geographical region. Results: Unemployment (age-gender adjusted) rose from 4.5% in January 2008 to 7.1% by September 2009. The reporting of poor health status increased from 25.7% in July 2009 to 29.5% by December 2010. Similar increases were found for cardiovascular and respiratory health problems; not depression or mental illness. The prevalence of poor health status among the unemployed decreased from 28.8% in July 2008, to 24.9% by March 2009; but this was followed by an increase in poor health experienced across all regions and by all socioeconomic groups, including those who remained employed, regardless of their occupational class. Interpretation: Although our study found no exacerbation of pre-recession health inequalities, the rise in poor health status not only for the unemployed, but also among people who remained employed, regardless of their occupational class, justifies concern voiced among many public health commentators.

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  • Thomas Astell-Burt & Xiaoqi Feng, 2013. "Health and the 2008 Economic Recession: Evidence from the United Kingdom," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-9, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0056674
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056674
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Michal Brzezinski, 2018. "What accounts for the rise of low self-rated health during the recent economic crisis in Europe?," Working Papers 2018-16, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    2. Curtis, Sarah & Pearce, Jamie & Cherrie, Mark & Dibben, Christopher & Cunningham, Niall & Bambra, Clare, 2019. "Changing labour market conditions during the ‘great recession’ and mental health in Scotland 2007–2011: an example using the Scottish Longitudinal Study and data for local areas in Scotland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 1-9.
    3. Sara Lourenço & Filomena Carnide & Fernando G Benavides & Raquel Lucas, 2015. "Psychosocial Work Environment and Musculoskeletal Symptoms among 21-Year-Old Workers: A Population-Based Investigation (2011-2013)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Steffen Otterbach & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2016. "Job insecurity, employability and health: an analysis for Germany across generations," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(14), pages 1303-1316, March.
    5. Modrek, Sepideh & Cullen, Mark R., 2013. "Health consequences of the ‘Great Recession’ on the employed: Evidence from an industrial cohort in aluminum manufacturing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 105-113.
    6. Maria A Barceló & Montserrat Coll-Negre & Gabriel Coll-de-Tuero & Marc Saez, 2016. "Effects of the Financial Crisis on Psychotropic Drug Consumption in a Cohort from a Semi-Urban Region in Catalonia, Spain," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-25, February.
    7. Nayara Tamayo-Fonseca & Andreu Nolasco & Joaquín Moncho & Carmen Barona & María Ángeles Irles & Rosa Más & Manuel Girón & Manuel Gómez-Beneyto & Pamela Pereyra-Zamora, 2018. "Contribution of the Economic Crisis to the Risk Increase of Poor Mental Health in a Region of Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, November.
    8. Quaglio, GianLuca & Karapiperis, Theodoros & Van Woensel, Lieve & Arnold, Elleke & McDaid, David, 2013. "Austerity and health in Europe," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 13-19.
    9. David Bayliss & Wendy Olsen & Pierre Walthery, 2017. "Well-Being During Recession in the UK," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 369-387, June.
    10. Jordi Gumà-Lao, 2022. "The Influence of Economic Factors on the Relationship between Partnership Status and Health: A Gender Approach to the Spanish Case," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-12, March.
    11. Giuseppina Maria Cardella & Brizeida Raquel Hernández-Sánchez & José Carlos Sánchez-García, 2021. "Development and validation of a scale to evaluate students’ future impact perception related to the coronavirus pandemic (C-19FIPS)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-23, November.
    12. Mario Martínez-Jiménez & Judit Vall Castelló, 2020. "Effects of macroeconomic fluctuations on mental health and psychotropic medicine consumption," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 277-297, September.
    13. van Giesen, Roxanne I. & Pieters, Rik, 2019. "Climbing out of an economic crisis: A cycle of consumer sentiment and personal stress," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 109-124.

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