IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0214208.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wages and employment security following a major disaster: A 17-year population-based longitudinal comparative study

Author

Listed:
  • Peter G van der Velden
  • Ruud J A Muffels
  • Roy Peijen
  • Mark W G Bosmans

Abstract

Objectives: The effects of disasters on mental health are well documented, but very little is known about the short to long-term effects of human-made disasters on wage and employment security careers of the affected residents. Methods: Residents affected by a major fireworks disaster (May 13, 2000) in a Dutch residential area were all anonymously identified, based on postal codes of the affected area. To gain insight in these effects, data were derived from Statistics Netherlands that records all individual demographic, gross annual wages and employment security data of the entire Dutch population since 1999. A quasi-experimental matched control group design was used by constructing two pair-wise matched groups of non-affected residents of the city of Tilburg and the general Dutch population. Matching was based on nine demographic variables such as gender, age, education level and gross annual wage in 1999 (Ntotal = 12,648). The effects of the disaster on wage and employment security from 1999 to 2016 among the total group and among those with low wages in 1999, were assessed using fixed-effects panel regression analyses. Results: Affected residents had significant lower gross annual wages in the medium and long term than the non-affected groups from the Netherlands, but differences were (very) small. Compared to the Tilburg group the significant differences were trivial in the medium term. Among the low-wage groups, no relevant differences were found between affected and non-affected residents. With respect to employment security, no or trivial differences were found between the total group of affected and matched comparison groups. Among those with low wages in 1999, in 2001 and especially 2002 affected residents worked fewer weeks per year than non-affected from Tilburg. In 2002 the difference with the Tilburg group was above moderate. Conclusions: These results speak to the resilience of affected residents, given the mental health problems and PTSD-symptomatology they suffered from, as shown in previous research.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter G van der Velden & Ruud J A Muffels & Roy Peijen & Mark W G Bosmans, 2019. "Wages and employment security following a major disaster: A 17-year population-based longitudinal comparative study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0214208
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214208
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0214208
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0214208&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0214208?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Searing, Elizabeth A.M. & Rios-Avila, Fernando & Lecy, Jesse D., 2013. "The impact of psychological trauma on wages in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 165-173.
    2. Kirsten Stam & Inge Sieben & Ellen Verbakel & Paul M de Graaf, 2016. "Employment status and subjective well-being: the role of the social norm to work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(2), pages 309-333, April.
    3. Alois Stutzer & Rafael Lalive, 2004. "The Role of Social Work Norms in Job Searching and Subjective Well-Being," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 696-719, June.
    4. Julie Zissimopoulos & Lynn Karoly, 2010. "Employment and self-employment in the wake of Hurricane Katrina," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(2), pages 345-367, May.
    5. Lehmann, Hartmut & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 2011. "The impact of Chernobyl on health and labour market performance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 843-857.
    6. Ruhm, Christopher J, 1991. "Are Workers Permanently Scarred by Job Displacements?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 319-324, March.
    7. -, 2003. "Handbook for estimating the socio-economic and environmental effects of disasters," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 2782 edited by Eclac, September.
    8. Britt, Thomas W. & Shen, Winny & Sinclair, Robert R. & Grossman, Matthew R. & Klieger, David M., 2016. "How Much Do We Really Know About Employee Resilience?," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 378-404, June.
    9. Iacus, Stefano M. & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2012. "Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lídia Farré & Francesco Fasani & Hannes Mueller, 2018. "Feeling useless: the effect of unemployment on mental health in the Great Recession," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-34, December.
    2. Philipp vom Berge & Achim Schmillen, 2023. "Effects of mass layoffs on local employment—evidence from geo-referenced data," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 509-539.
    3. Chadi, Adrian & Hetschko, Clemens, 2025. "Income or leisure? On the hidden benefits of (un)employment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    4. Dieckhoff, Martina & Giesecke, Johannes, 2024. "Growing or declining penalties? A cross-temporal analysis of unemployment scars in the German labor market," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 121, pages 1-17.
    5. Tom Günther & Jakob Conradi & Clemens Hetschko, 2024. "Socialism, Identity and the Well-Being of Unemployed Women," CESifo Working Paper Series 11154, CESifo.
    6. Dominik Buttler, 2022. "Employment Status and Well-Being Among Young Individuals. Why Do We Observe Cross-Country Differences?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 409-437, November.
    7. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/3018m4nhj18vvr47bolsnnqeqs is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3018m4nhj18vvr47bolsnnqeqs is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Hansen, Kerstin F. & Stutzer, Alois, 2022. "Parental unemployment, social insurance and child well-being across countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 600-617.
    10. Furtado, Delia & Papps, Kerry L. & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2022. "Who Goes on Disability when Times are Tough? The Role of Work Norms among Immigrants," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    11. Jahn, Elke J. & Wagner, Thomas, 2005. "Contractual Employment Protection and the Scarring Risk of Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 1813, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Philipp vom Berge & Achim Schmillen, 2023. "Effects of mass layoffs on local employment—evidence from geo-referenced data," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 509-539.
    13. Z. Bilgen Susanlı, 2018. "Life satisfaction and unemployment in Turkey: evidence from Life Satisfaction Surveys 2004–2013," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 479-499, January.
    14. Karlijn L. A. Roex & Jesper J. Rözer, 2018. "The Social Norm to Work and the Well-Being of the Short- and Long-Term Unemployed," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 1037-1064, October.
    15. Hye Yoon Chung & Youjin Hahn, 2021. "Work Transitions, Gender, and Subjective Well-Being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(5), pages 2085-2109, October.
    16. Sónia Cabral & Joana Garcia & Raquel Miranda & Susana Peralta & João Pereira dos Santos, 2024. "Treasure Islands, Real Jobs? Workers and Anti-Avoidance Policies in a Tax Paradise," Working Papers w202416, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    17. François Fall & Akim Almouksit, 2016. "The impact of formal financing on small informal enterprises in Comoros," Working Papers hal-01566389, HAL.
    18. D'Addio, Anna Cristina & De Greef, Isabelle & Rosholm, Michael, 2002. "Assessing Unemployment Traps in Belgium Using Panel Data Sample Selection Models," IZA Discussion Papers 669, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Stefano Colonnello & Mariela Dal Borgo, 2024. "Raising Household Leverage: Evidence from Co-Financed Mortgages," Working Papers 2024: 01, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    20. van Hoorn, André, 2018. "Is the happiness approach to measuring preferences valid?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 53-65.
    21. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00566139 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Nicola Pavoni & G. L. Violante, 2007. "Optimal Welfare-to-Work Programs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(1), pages 283-318.
    23. Rose, Damaris & Stavrova, Olga, 2019. "Does life satisfaction predict reemployment? Evidence form German panel data," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1-11.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0214208. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.