Trajectories of Labour Market Attachment after Family and Work Related Transitions

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan työmarkkinakiinnittymisen kehityspolkuja ja niiden ennustajia elämän eri vaiheissa; ensimmäisen lapsen syntymän jälkeen, vanhemmaksi siirtymisen ja perhevastuiden muotoutumisen jälkeen, sekä työvoimapoliittiseen toimenpiteeseen osallistumisen jälkeen. Etenkin perheeseen liittyvät siirtymät ovat usein suunniteltuja, normatiivisia elämäntapahtumia. Myös osallistuminen palkkatuettuun työhön on useimmiten vapaaehtoista ja myönteistä hyvinvoinnin kannalta. Nämä siirtymät voivat kuitenkin olla myös käännekohtia, joiden jälkeen yksilölliset elämänkulut eriytyvät, riippuen muista olosuhteista. Kolme osajulkaisua perustuu Kunta-alan seurantatutkimuksessa (FPS) yhdistettyihin rekisteritietoihin, sisältäen tietoa kymmenen kunnan ja viiden sairaanhoitopiirin henkilöstöstä. Yksi osajulkaisu perustuu työikäistä väestöä edustavaan pitkittäiskyselyyn vuosilta 1998 ja 2003 (Health and Social Support, HeSSup), sekä vastauksiin yhdistettyyn rekisteriaineistoon. Tiedot työsuhteista perustuvat ansaintarekisteriin, josta tunnistettiin trajektorianalyysin avulla erilaisia työmarkkinakiinnittymisen kehityspolkuja. Tässä tutkimuksessa työmarkkinakiinnittyminen viittaa palkansaajana tai yrittäjänä työskentelyn kuukausimäärään tiettynä ajanjaksona, kun taas kehityspolulla, tai trajektorilla, viitataan kiinnittymisen kehitykseen pitkällä aikavälillä. Selittävien tekijöiden yhteyttä kehityspolkuihin analysoitiin multinomiaalisella logistisella regressioanalyysilla. Kaksi ensimmäistä osajulkaisua tarkastelivat vuosina 2000-2002 ensimmäisen lapsen saaneiden äitien työmarkkinakiinnittymisen kehityspolkuja perustuen Kuntaalan seurantatutkimukseen, edustaen pääasiassa julkisen sektorin työntekijöitä. Valtaosa (71-76%) äideistä, joilla oli voimassa oleva työsuhde ensimmäisen lapsen syntyessä, olivat vakaasti kiinnittyneitä työmarkkinoille koko 11 vuoden seurantajakson ajan. Seurannan lopussa noin 86-88% heistä oli vakaasti kiinnittynyt työmarkkinoille. Äidit, joilla ei ollut työsuhdetta lapsen syntyessä, kiinnittyivät työmarkkinoille hitaammin ja heikommin, ja pienempi osa heistä (72%) oli seurannan lopussa vakaalla työuralla. Määräaikainen työsuhde äitiysvapaan alkaessa (tai aikaisemmin, mikäli työsuhdetta ei ollut) oli yhteydessä heikompaan ja viivästyneeseen työmarkkinakiinnittymiseen. Äidin asuinkunnan tarjoama kotihoidon tuen kuntalisä oli myös yhteydessä heikkoon työmarkkinakiinnittymiseen äideillä, joilla ei ollut työsuhdetta lapsen syntyessä. Kolmas osajulkaisu kohdistui naisiin ja miehiin, jotka asuivat lasten ja kumppanin kanssa vuosina 1998 ja 2003 perustuen kyselyaineistoon (HeSSup). Valtaosa sekä miehistä (74%) että naisista (72%) oli vakaasti kiinnittyneitä työmarkkinoille seurannan aikana vuosina 2004-2011, kun taas pienemmillä osuuksilla oli vahvistuva, heikko tai myöhemmin heikentyvä työmarkkinakiinnittyminen. Vastuu kotitöistä ja lapsista kyselyvuosien aikaan oli yhteydessä heikompaan työmarkkinakiinnittymiseen seurannassa molemmilla sukupuolilla. Miehillä nämä yhteydet olivat jossain määrin vahvempia, kun analyysissa otettiin huomioon kiinnittymisen lähtötaso ja muita taustatekijöitä. Neljäs osajulkaisu keskittyi kymmenen kunnan palvelukseen 1990-luvun lopulla ja 2000-luvun alussa tukityöllistettyjen henkiköiden työmarkkinakiinnittymiseen perustuen Kunta-alan seurantatutkimukseen. Molempina ajanjaksoina valtaosa (6268%) heistä sijoittui vahvistuvan työmarkkinakiinnittymisen kehityspolulle kuuden vuoden seurannassa tukijakson jälkeen, kun taas noin 10% ei kiinnittynyt työmarkkinoille lainkaan. Mikään kehityspoluista ei johtanut vakaaseen kiinnittymiseen. Tukityöllistämisen suuri volyymi kunnissa voi merkitä tukimuodon heikompaa laatua, etenkin 1990-luvun lopussa, satunnaisempaa henkilöiden valikoitumista työpaikkoihin, suurempaa kilpailua kunnan viroista, ja siten heikompaa työmarkkinakiinnittymistä yksilön kannalta. Tulosten mukaan korkeammat volyymit olivat yhteydessä vahvempaan, pikemmin kuin heikompaan työmarkkinakiinnittymiseen molempina ajanjaksoina, kun analyysissa vakioitiin yksilöiden taustatietoja ja kuntatason tekijöitä, kuten työttömyysasteet. Tutkimus tarjoaa tärkeimpänä antinaan kattaviin aineistoihin perustuvaa kuvailevaa tietoa työmarkkinakiinnittymisen kehityspoluista ja niihin yhteydessä olevista tekijöistä tiettyjen elämänsiirtymien jälkeen. Kansainvälisesti vertaillen suomalainen perhepolitiikka näyttää tukevan hyvin työn ja perheen yhteensovittamista. Perhevapaiden rakenne voi kuitenkin koitua ongelmaksi työmarkkinakiinnittymisen kannalta äideillä, joilla alun perinkin on heikompi asema työmarkkinoilla. Äidit kantavat enemmän vastuuta kotitöistä ja lapsista, heijastaen kulttuurisia sukupuolirooleja, kun taas miehillä nämä vastuut voivat olla suuremmassa ristiriidassa työroolien kanssa. Kunnallisen tukityöjakson jälkeinen työmarkkinakiinnittyminen oli parhaimmillaan vahvistuvaa, heikentyvää tai myöhemmin vahvistuvaa.The purpose of this study is to analyse the development of labour market attachment for individuals and their predictors after different transitions during their life course; the birth of a first child, the division of domestic responsibilities among couples after transition to parenthood, and participation in active labour market policy interventions after a period of unemployment. In particular, family related transitions are usually planned and a normative part of life. Also, participation in subsidised employment is usually voluntary and positive in terms of well-being. However, these life events may also be turning points after which individual life courses diverge, depending on other circumstances or specific contexts. Three studies are based on register data combined from the Finnish Public Sector study (FPS), which includes information on employees in ten municipalities and six hospital districts in Finland. One study is based on Health and Social Support (HeSSup) surveys from 1998 and 2003 and register data, which represents working age population in Finland. Latent class growth analysis was used to identify patterns of labour market attachment based on the National Pension Register. In this study, labour market attachment refers to the number of months an individual worked as a wage earner or as an entrepreneur, while trajectory refers to the pattern of attachment in the long-term. Multinomial logistic regression was used to analyse the associations of the main independent variables on the trajectories when adjusting for control variables. The first two studies analysed mothers’ labour market trajectories after having their first child from 2000-2002 based on register data in the FPS, and thus, representing mainly public-sector employees. The majority (71-76%) of mothers with a valid job contract at the time of the first birth had stable attachment to the labour market during a follow-up period of 11 years. At the end of this period, about 86-88% of them had stable attachment. Those without a job contract at the time of the first birth had weaker and slower attachment to the labour market, and a lower proportion (72%) of them were fully attached to the labour market at the end of the follow-up period. Having a temporary job contract at the start of the maternity leave, or previously, was related to a weaker and delayed attachment. Living in a municipality offering additional supplements for child home care was associated with a greater risk of weak labour market attachment among mothers without a job contract at the time of the first birth. The third study focused on men and women living with children and a partner in their household, and based on HeSSup survey data from 1998 and 2003. The majority of both men, at 74%, and women, at 72%, had strong attachment to the labour market during the follow-up period in 2004-2011, while smaller proportions had strengthening, weak, and weakening attachments. A high responsibility for both housework and children during the survey years were associated with weak labour market attachment in later years for both genders. Among men, these associations were somewhat stronger when fully adjusted for baseline attachment and other background variables. The fourth study focused on labour market attachment for subsidised employees in ten municipalities in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In both periods, the majority of employees (62-68%) had a strengthening attachment to the labour market after the subsidised period during a six-year follow-up, while about 10% were not employed at all. None of the trajectories led to stable attachment to labour market in this study. Higher volumes of subsidised employment in municipalities could indicate poorer quality, especially during the late 1990s, and also indicate more random selection of individuals to jobs, more competition in municipal vacancies, and, thus, poorer employment possibilities for individuals. The results showed that high volumes in municipal subsidised employment were associated with stronger labour market outcomes among participants in both periods, when adjusted for individual and municipal level factors, for example unemployment rates. As the main contribution, this study provides descriptive information on the development of labour market trajectories for individuals after certain transitions, focusing on the shape, proportion, and predictors of these tracks and based on large samples of relevant populations. In international comparison, Finnish family policies seemed to support a combination of family roles and employment quite well. However, the structure of family leaves may have led to increased difficulties for those mothers with originally weak labour market attachment. Mothers are, on average, more responsible for children and housework, reflecting the cultural gender roles, while fathers may have more problems with combining work and unpaid work. Labour market attachment after a period of subsidised employment was, at best, weakly strengthening, weakening, or later weakly strengthening

Job Contract at Birth of the First Child as a Predictor of Women’s Labor Market Attachment: Trajectory Analyses over 11 Years

There is a lot of evidence that pre-birth employment and access to parental leave are important predictors of mothers’ labor market attachment after childbirth. This register-based study from Finland aimed to analyze in which ways the type of job contract (none, temporary, or permanent) at the start of maternity leave predicts labor market attachment in the long term. The mother cohorts were followed up for 11 years. Labor market attachment was analyzed with latent class growth analysis, which makes it possible to identify subgroups with differing track and level of development. Lack of employment and having a temporary contract at baseline were associated with slower and weaker labor market attachment irrespective of mother’s age, socioeconomic status, and subsequent births. These findings suggest that the polarization of women into the core and periphery of the labor market structure tends to continue after the birth of the first child. Temporary employment might be an obstacle for having rights for a job-protected family leave and have long-term consequences on the continuity of employment and the division of paid and unpaid work in the family

Psychotherapy and change in mental health-related work disability : a prospective Finnish population-level register-based study with a quasi-experimental design

Background Mental disorders are a major cause of work disability among the working-age population. Psychotherapy has shown to be an effective treatment for mental disorders, but the evidence is mainly based on small-scale randomised trials with relatively short follow-ups. We used population-based register data to examine the association between statutory rehabilitative psychotherapy and change in depression or anxiety-related work disability. Methods We drew a nationally representative sample of the working-age population (aged 18-55 in 2010). The study group comprised all those who started rehabilitative psychotherapy in 2011-2014. A total of 10 436 participants who were followed from 3 years prior to 4 years after the onset of rehabilitative psychotherapy. This resulted in 83 488 observations. The annual total number of mental health-related work disability months (0 to 12) was calculated from the total number of annual compensated sickness absence and disability pension days. A quasi-experimental interrupted time series analysis was applied. Results The onset of rehabilitative psychotherapy marked a decline in work disability in comparison to the counterfactual trend. Specifically, a 20% decrease in the level (incidence rate ratio, IRR 0.80; 95% CI 0.76 to 0.85) and a 48% decrease in the slope (IRR 0.52; 95% CI 0.50 to 0.54) of work disability were detected in comparison to the counterfactual scenario. No significant gender differences were observed. The decline in work disability was the steepest in the oldest age group. Conclusions This study suggests that statutory psychotherapy may decrease work disability at the population level. However, further evidence of causal inference and the potential heterogeneity of the association is required.Peer reviewe

Concurrent trajectories of self-rated health and working hour patterns in health care shift workers : A longitudinal analysis with 8-year follow-up

BackgroundThe association between health and working hours is hypothesized to be reciprocal, but few longitudinal studies have examined changes in both health and working hour patterns over time. We examined combined trajectories of self-related health and two working hour patterns (workingPeer reviewe

Length of exposure to long working hours and night work and risk of sickness absence : a register-based cohort study

Background There is inconsistent evidence that long working hours and night work are risk factors for sickness absence, but few studies have considered variation in the length of exposure time window as a potential source of mixed findings. We examined whether the association of long working hours and night work with sickness absence is dependent on the length of exposure to the working hour characteristics. Methods We analysed records of working hours, night work and sickness absence for a cohort of 9226 employees in one hospital district in Finland between 2008 and 2019. The exposure time windows ranged from 10 to 180 days, and we used Cox's proportional hazards models with time-dependent exposures to analyse the associations between working-hour characteristics and subsequent sickness absence. Results Longer working hours for a period of 10 to 30 days was not associated with the risk of sickness absence whereas longer working hours for a period of 40 to 180 days was associated with a lower risk of sickness absence. Irrespective of exposure time window, night work was not associated with sickness absence. Conclusions It is important to consider the length of exposure time window when examining associations between long working hours and sickness absence, whereas the association between night work and sickness absence is not similarly sensitive to exposure times.Peer reviewe