Health and re-employment in a five-year follow-up of long-term unemployed.
OBJECTIVE
To study health and re-employment in a five-year follow-up of a community sample of long-term unemployed people.


METHODS
A random sample registered for more than 12 weeks at the labour offices in Grenland, Norway, were given medical check-ups in 1988 and 1990, and a postal questionnaire in 1993.


RESULTS
Only 37% were employed five years after the first spell of long-term unemployment. Recovery after re-employment was demonstrated, indicating that unemployment causes poor mental health. Health-related selection to continuous unemployment was only found for medical diagnoses. The unemployed who might be selected to continuous unemployment because of poor health at the two-year follow-up seemed to deteriorate most.


CONCLUSIONS
The high morbidity of mental health problems among unemployed people is mostly explained by the causal hypothesis. This is a challenge to preventive medicine. Sick unemployed people should be given special attention.
Department of Social Insurance Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway.
B
B
Claussen
D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014478:Unemployment / Q000523:psychology