Smoking, drinking and body weight after re-employment: does unemployment experience and compensation make a difference?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The impact of unemployment on behaviours such as smoking, drinking and body weight has been extensively researched. However, little is known about the possible protective effects of social assistance programs on these behavioural changes. This study examines the impact of unemployment periods on smoking, drinking and body weight changes among re-employed individuals and investigates whether the receipt of unemployment benefits influences these behaviours.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study used panel data provided by the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Logistic regression models were used to analyze whether a period of unemployment in 2000 resulted in an increase in smoking and drinking or fluctuations in body weight among 2001 re-employed individuals in comparison with 1999 baseline levels. A total of 3,451 respondents who had been initially healthy and who had been continuously employed between 1998 and 1999 were included in the analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to stably employed respondents, those who had experienced periods of unemployment in 2000 and did not receive unemployment benefits were more likely than continuously employed individuals to report an increase in alcohol consumption (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.0–3.1) and a decrease in body weight (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1–2.8) when they were already re-employed in 2001.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that the receipt of unemployment benefits confers a protective effect on health behavioural changes following periods of unemployment. These findings underscore the need to monitor the impact of unemployment assistance programs on health, particularly in light of the rapidly changing structure of employment and unemployment benefits.</p

An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Degree Program in Electronic Commerce

This paper describes an innovative curriculum for an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program in electronic commerce. Faculty from the disciplines of computer information systems, computer science, operations management, marketing and graphic design collaborated in devising a curriculum that focuses on the business of electronic commerce while providing a solid base of information technology skills. The program includes an integrated junior year experience that gives students business and technical skills in a team-taught environment. During the senior year, students concentrate on technology infrastructure, business processes, or market analysis and development. This paper not only presents a blueprint for an undergraduate curriculum, but also provides a model for faculty cooperation across academic disciplines

Validity of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles for Assessing Upper Extremity Work Demands

Objectives: The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) is used in vocational rehabilitation to guide decisions about the ability of a person with activity limitations to perform activities at work. The DOT has categorized physical work demands in five categories. The validity of this categorization is unknown. Aim of this study was to investigate whether the DOT could be used validly to guide decisions for patients with injuries to the upper extremities. Four hypotheses were tested. Methods: A database including 701 healthy workers was used. All subjects filled out the Dutch Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, from which an Upper Extremity Work Demands score (UEWD) was derived. First, relation between the DOT-categories and UEWD-score was analysed using Spearman correlations. Second, variance of the UEWD-score in occupational groups was tested by visually inspecting boxplots and assessing kurtosis of the distribution. Third, it was investigated whether occupations classified in one DOT-category, could significantly differ on UEWD-scores. Fourth, it was investigated whether occupations in different DOT-categories could have similar UEWD-scores using Mann Whitney U-tests (MWU). Results: Relation between the DOT-categories and the UEWD-score was weak (r(sp) = 0.40; p < .01). Overlap between categories was found. Kurtosis exceeded +/- 1.0 in 3 occupational groups, indicating large variance. UEWD-scores were significantly different within one DOT-category (MWU = 1.500; p < .001). UEWD scores between DOT-categories were not significantly different (MWU = 203.000; p = .49). Conclusion: All four hypotheses could not be rejected. The DOT appears to be invalid for assessing upper extremity work demands

Reemployment Bonuses in the Unemployment Insurance System: Evidence from Three Field Experiments

In this volume a select group of UI researchers describes the motivation for and the design, implementation, and impacts of UI bonus experiments administered in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Washington. They also describe the benefits and costs of the various experimental treatments for the government as a whole, the UI system in particular, claimants\u27 earnings, and the overall net benefits to society.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1183/thumbnail.jp

Institute Brief: WIA and One-Stop Centers: Opportunities and Issues for the Disability Community

This brief gives a basic overview of the act and examines its impact on the lives of people with disabilities as well as the systems and organizations that assist them

Does unemployment insurance crowd out home production?

In this paper, we study the interaction between self insurance and public insurance. In particular, we provide evidence on the relationship between unemployment insurance benefits and home production using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and the state-level unemployment insurance data of the U.S. The empirical results suggest that moving to a two times more generous state would decrease time spent on home production about 20% for unemployed. Then we pursue a quantitative assessment using a dynamic competitive equilibrium model in which households do home production as well as market production. The model is able to generate the empirical facts regarding unemployment benefits and home production. The fact that unemployment insurance benefits crowd out home production is interpreted as a substitution between the two insurance mechanisms against loss of earnings during unemployment spells

Income Replacement and Reemployment Programs in Michigan and Neighboring States

Governments in every developed industrial economy administer programs that partially replace the earnings of workers who suffer job loss or on-the-job injury. In addition, governments administer programs to help job losers gain reemployment, either through direct job placement (for those who are job-ready) or through retraining (for those who are not). This chapter describes and discusses current policy issues surrounding the main social insurance and reemployment programs in Michigan: Unemployment Insurance (UI), which partially replaces lost earnings following loss of a job; Workers\u27 Compensation (WC), which pays for medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and lost earnings following a work-related injury or illness; and the cluster of reemployment and training programs that, since 1998, has come under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). In addition to describing these programs, a main goal of the chapter is to offer a critical view of Michigan\u27s programs by comparing them with corresponding programs in neighboring states. Discussion of these three programs could hardly be more timely. UI has come under attack for a range of alleged failings, and the Michigan legislature passed a bill in April 2002 that increased weekly benefits, lengthened benefit durations, and tightened the eligibility requirements for UI in Michigan. Also, the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 has resulted in significant changes in reemployment services nationwide as well as in Michigan, and there is continuing debate over the effectiveness of the work first approach that WIA entails. Finally, WC has gone through cycles in which dramatic cost increases have been followed by efforts at cost containment. Michigan\u27s WC law has seen only minor changes during the last 20 years because reforms instituted in the early 1980s appear to have kept both medical and wage replacement costs of WC in Michigan in line with those in other states. However, health care costs are projected to resume their growth in the near future, which would directly affect WC costs and put increased pressure on the WC system

Do public libraries impact local labor markets? Evidence from Appalachia

This paper investigates the effect of public library programs and participation on unemployment and labor force participation in Appalachia. Appalachia is an economically distressed area, mostly rural, and with a sustained lower level of labor force participation and a higher level of unemployment. As public library programs can be countercyclical to labor market outcomes, I use public library staff and the amount of print resources and computers available as instruments. The results show that neither adult nor children’s programs and participation affect local labor market outcomes. These results are robust across different specifications. Spatial econometric estimates corroborate the main results and provide evidence of spatial spillover effects, especially for children’s programs