association between partner's employment insecurity: patterns, mechanisms and potential...
TRANSCRIPT
Association between partner's employment insecurity: patterns, mechanisms and potential consequences.
Juli Carrere BalcellsFrancesc Xavier Belvis i Costes
Joan Benach i Rovira
The Health Inequalities Research Group (GREDS) - (Employment Conditions Network) Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Barcelona
Since the 70s Neoliberal Globalization. Restructuration of productive system. Flexibility of labor relations.
Introduction
Precarious employment Global erosion of employment and working conditions. Multidimensional concept. Reduction of employment conditions and power relations.
Introduction
Precarious employment relationship Not limited to job stability. Expanding the study to self-employed. It should not be limited to a static perspective.
Employment securityA continuum in which the minimum level of security consists of the lack of employment , while the situation of being employed appears characterized by different risks of losing it.
Introduction
Figure 1. Conceptual framework of social determinants of health inequalities
Source: Commission to reduce social inequalities in Health in Spain (1), based on (2) and (3).
Introduction
The partner's employment security would be different if couples were paired at random (8).Concentration: an accumulation of similar situations in the couple (9-12).Asymmetry: Excess of inequality situations between men and women (10,11).
Employment security in the household Employment security is conditioned by composition and relationship of its members(4). Negative consequences in terms of poverty and material deprivation (5). Effects on the psychological well-being of adults (6) and children (7).
Concentration effect Assortative mating (9-10) Shared restrictions (10-12) Partner effect: Social Capital (15)
Asymmetry effect Partner effect: New theory of Family (13,14)
Possible causal mechanisms
Justification
Individuals and families depend on the existence and continuity of the employment relation for their welfare.
In Southern European countries there is high employment insecurity and less social protection by the welfare state.
The basic unit of analysis is usually the individual, and there is little evidence from the household perspective.
The accumulation of (un)favorable situations in couples may reduce the family’s ability to buffer health inequalities.
Objectives
a) Describe association patterns of partner’s employment security, taking into account the intermediate situations of employment security.
b) Explore mechanisms: selective mating, shared restrictions and partner effect that explain observed patterns according to the reviewed literature.
c) Estimate the influence of association patterns of partner’s employment security on health inequalities and risk factors for health (income) of the couples.
Hypothesis
a) Association patterns H1) There are significant effects of concentration and/or asymmetry in partner’s employment security in Catalan labour market.
c) Health consequences (H5). Partner’s employment security association will increase inequalities on income distribution (H5a) and health distribution (H5b).
b) Mechanisms: concentration/asymmetry(H2) Concentration effect will decrease after controlling assortative mating by age (H2a) and assortative mating by educational level (H2b).(H3) Concentration effect will be significant depending on share restrictions by economic cycles (H3A) and taking into account urban/rural context (H3b).(H4) Asymmetry effect, according to the theory of the New Family, will increase in couples depending on the presence of children in the household.
Variables: Interest variable
Couples’ employment security. Outcome variables
Income household, self-perceived health. Explanatory variables
Age homogamy, educational homogamy, economic cycle, residence area, and reproductive labour.
Material and Methods (I) Design: Exploratory cross-sectional study of a dyadic variable from
2002-2012. Population: Population of women and men in couples living in
Catalonia between 20-64 years old Source: Panel of Social Inequalities in Catalonia Sample: 9338 information pieces (2061 couples)
52,780 Information
pieces
14,044 Information
pieces
10,660 Information
pieces
10,549 Information
pieces
Population at working age 20- 65 years old
Couples
Selection
a) Both partners are retired.b) Both partners are older than 62 years old
and/or they have a disability.c) Both partners are younger than 25 years
old and they are students and/or they are inactive.
d) Homosexual couples.
9338 Information
pieces
Selection MissingExclusion
b) Odds ratios were estimated to assess the causal mechanisms of concentration and asymmetry effects.c) We compared the distribution of household income and self-perceived health observed versus expected for a couple paired at random.
Analysis: DescriptiveDyadic distribution, response variables and explanatory factors. Inferential a) The pattern of association was studied using log-linear models.
Material and Methods (II)
Results (I): Association paterns
Results (I): Association paterns
Results (II): Casual Mechanisms
Results (III): Health inequalities
Discussion
Significant association between man and woman employment security in couples. It is explained, largely, by a concentration patterns, whereas asymmetry patterns don´t improve the explanation of the models.
Concentration effect acts not only in employment security and non-employment level, but it plays a role in employment insecurity as well (11.12)
The observed concentration effect was as expected by the mechanisms of assortative matting and shared restrictions.
There is no evidence that they constitute a significant additional risk factor for health and its associated risk factors.
Discussion
Previous research on gender inequalities (16,17) indicates a clear sexual division of labour, some alternative hypotheses to our results:
Methodological limitations. Difficulties to detect patterns in employment security indicator. Inactivity and unemployment are dissuasive factors in family planning.
According to the New Theory of the Family, we expected specialitzation patterns to be more evident and asymmetry to be increased by reproductive work-load.
Discussion
Variations were found: age homogamy, urban couples and economic cycle. In Southern European countries, age remained as a partner criteria selection (18) . The opener marriage market, which are more common in urban areas, the further the effects on social stratification.The stratified effect of concentration patterns, appears more intensely during the economic crisis.
Higher concentration mean greater inequality in the distribution of employment security among different couples, and therefore it will be an additional mechanism of social stratification.
Discussion
Strengths Explore a precarious employment indicator from the couple perspective. Differentiate between employment security and insecurity at a couple level. Identify association between employment patterns and some mechanisms which suggest future research lines. Innovative assessment of partner effect contribution to health inequalities.
Limitations Employment security is an indicator with three situations that are internally heterogeneous. It does not control the effect of others on household employment security. Make a cross sectional analysis with longitudinal sample.
References1. Borrell C, Artazcoz L, Díez E, Malmusi D, Pasarín M, Rodríguez-Sanz M et al. Avanzando hacia la equidad: Propuesta de políticas e
intervenciones para reducir las desigualdades sociales en slaud en España. Madrid: Ministerio de Sanidad y Política Social. 2010. 2. Navarro V. The political and social contexts of health. : Baywood Publishing Company, Inc.; 2004. 3. Comission on Social Determinants of Health. Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of
health. Final report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. 2008.4. Gregg P, Scutella R, Wadsworth J. Reconciling workless measures at the individual and household level. Theory and evidence from the
United States, Britain, Germany, Spain and Australia. J Popul Econ. gen 2010;23(1):139-67. 5. Graaf-Zijl M de, Nolan B. Household joblessness and its impact on poverty and deprivation in Europe. J Eur Soc Policy. 2011;21(5):413-
31. 6. Scutella R, Wooden M. The effects of household joblessness on mental health. Soc Sci Med. jul 2008;67(1):88-100. 30.7. Härkönen J. Children and Dual Worklessness in Europe: A Comparison of Nine Countries / Enfants et couples sans emploi en Europe: une
comparaison entre neuf pays. Eur J Popul Rev Eur Démographie. 2011;27(2):217-41. 8. De Graaf P. Stratification: Partner Effects [Internet]. Ritzer G, editor. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Oxford, UK, Malden, USA
and Carlton, Australia: Blackwell Publishing Ltd; 2007.9. Ultee W, Dessens J, Jansen W. Why does unemployment come in couples? An analysis of (un)employment and (non)employment
homogamy tables for Canada, the Netherlands and the United States in the 1980s. Eur Sociol Rev. 9 de enero de 1988;4(2):111-22. 10. Bernasco W, Graaf PM de, Ultee WC. Effects of Spouse’s Resources on Occupational Attainment in the Netherlands. Eur Sociol Rev. 3 de
enero de 1998;14(1):15-31. 11. Lange M de, Wolbers MHJ, Ultee WC. United in Precarious Employment? Employment Precarity of Young Couples in the Netherlands,
1992–2007. Eur Sociol Rev. 12 de enero de 2012;jcr093. 12. Grotti R, Scherer S. Accumulation of Employment Instability Among Partners—Evidence from Six EU Countries. Eur Sociol
2014;30(5):627-39. 13. Becker G. A Treatise on the family. Harvard University Press; 1981.14. Verbakel, E., & de Graaf, P. Partner effects on labour market participation and job level: opposing mechanisms. Work, Employment
& Society, . 2009:23(4), 15. Coleman JS. Foundations of Social Theory. Harvard University Press; 1990. 16. Artazcoz, L., Benach, J., Borrell, C., & Cortès, I. Unemployment and mental health: understanding the interactions among gender, family
roles, and social class. American Journal of Public Health. 2004:94(1), 82-88.17. Artazcoz, L., Benach, J., Borrell, C., & Cortes, I. Social inequalities in the impact of flexible employment on different domains of
psychosocial health. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2005:59(9), 761-767.18. Blossfeld, H.-P., & Timm, A. Who Marries Whom?: Educational Systems as Marriage Markets in Modern Societies..2003 Springer Science
& Business Media.
