Labour market disadvantage amongst disabled people: a longitudinal perspective

Considerable cross-sectional evidence has highlighted the lower employment rates and earnings amongst disabled people in Britain. But very little is known about the progression of disabled people in employment. This study uses data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to examine the labour market progression of disabled people in Britain along several dimensions: earnings growth, low-pay transition probabilities, changes in labour market participation, the rate of training and the rate of upward occupational mobility. The analysis also explores the extent of heterogeneity in the labour market progression of disabled people with respect to differences in age, education, occupation and disability severity. The evidence indicates that the earnings trajectories of disabled people lag behind those for non-disabled people, especially for men. The median annual change in earnings is 1.4 percent lower for disabled men and 0.6 percent lower for disabled women compared to non-disabled men and women respectively. Moreover, disabled people are approximately three times more likely to exit work than their non-disabled counterparts, a difference that increases markedly for more-severely disabled people. The evidence highlights the need for policy to tackle the barriers that disabled people face in the workplace, not merely in access to jobs

Labour Market Disadvantage amongst Disabled People: A longitudinal perspective

Considerable cross-sectional evidence has highlighted the lower employment rates and earnings amongst disabled people in Britain. But very little is known about the progression of disabled people in employment. This study uses data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to examine the labour market progression of disabled people in Britain along several dimensions: earnings growth, low-pay transition probabilities, changes in labour market participation, the rate of training and the rate of upward occupational mobility. The analysis also explores the extent of heterogeneity in the labour market progression of disabled people with respect to differences in age, education, occupation and disability severity. The evidence indicates that the earnings trajectories of disabled people lag behind those for non-disabled people, especially for men. The median annual change in earnings is 1.4 percent lower for disabled men and 0.6 percent lower for disabled women compared to non-disabled men and women respectively. Moreover, disabled people are approximately three times more likely to exit work than their non-disabled counterparts, a difference that increases markedly for more-severely disabled people. The evidence highlights the need for policy to tackle the barriers that disabled people face in the workplace, not merely in access to jobs.disability, labour market, longitudinal, dynamics

Income dynamics and the life cycle

This paper argues that our understanding of income and poverty dynamics benefits from taking a life cycle perspective. A person¿s age and family circumstances ¿ the factors that shape their life cycle ¿ affect the likelihood of experiencing key life events, such as partnership formation, having children, or retirement; this in turn affects their probability of experiencing rising, falling, or other income trajectories. Using ten waves of the British Household Panel Survey, we analyse the income trajectories of people at different stages in their lives in order to build a picture of income dynamics over the whole life cycle. We find that particular life events are closely associated with either rising or falling trajectories, but that there is considerable heterogeneity in income trajectories following these different events. Typically, individuals experiencing one of these life events are around twice as likely to experience a particular income trajectory, but most individuals will not follow the trajectory most commonly associated with that life event. This work improves our understanding of the financial impact of different life events and provides an indication of how effectively the welfare state cushions people against the potentially adverse impact of certain events

Health supplier quality and the distribution of child health

There is emerging evidence to suggest that initial differentials between the health of poor and more affluent children in the UK do not widen over early childhood. One reason may be that through the universal public funded health care system all children have access to equally effective primary care providers. This paper examines this explanation. The analysis has two components. It first examines whether children from poorer families have access to general practitioners of a similar quality to children from richer families. It then examines whether the quality of primary care to which a child has access has an impact on their health at birth and on their health during early childhood. The results suggest that children from poor families do not have access to markedly worse quality primary care, and further, that the quality of primary care does not appear to have a large effect on differentials in child health in early childhood.primary care quality, child health

Income Dynamics and the Life Cycle

This paper argues that our understanding of income and poverty dynamics benefits from taking a life cycle perspective. A person¿s age and family circumstances ¿ the factors that shape their life cycle ¿ affect the likelihood of experiencing key life events, such as partnership formation, having children, or retirement; this in turn affects their probability of experiencing rising, falling, or other income trajectories. Using ten waves of the British Household Panel Survey, we analyse the income trajectories of people at different stages in their lives in order to build a picture of income dynamics over the whole life cycle. We find that particular life events are closely associated with either rising or falling trajectories, but that there is considerable heterogeneity in income trajectories following these different events. Typically, individuals experiencing one of these life events are around twice as likely to experience a particular income trajectory, but most individuals will not follow the trajectory most commonly associated with that life event. This work improves our understanding of the financial impact of different life events and provides an indication of how effectively the welfare state cushions people against the potentially adverse impact of certain events.income dynamics, life cycle, poverty

Understanding socio-economic inequalities in childhood respiratory health

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Recent evidence has shown a socio-economic gradient in its distribution. This paper examines whether a number of factors argued to have led to a rise in the incidence of asthma might also explain the social gradient. Several of these have been the object of policy intervention, though not necessarily with the aim of lowering childhood respiratory conditions. Using a large cohort study (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) we find significant inequalities in three respiratory conditions in middle childhood. We investigate eight potential mediating factors: exposure to other children in infancy, child's diet, poor housing conditions, maternal smoking, parental history of asthma, poor child health at birth, maternal age at child's birth and local deprivation. We find that each of these alone typically explains a relatively modest part of each respiratory inequality, with child's diet, local deprivation and maternal smoking generally the most important. But taken together, the mediating factors account for a substantial part of the respiratory inequalities. So the socio-economic gradient appears to operate through a number of inter-correlated pathways, some of which may be amenable to policy intervention.Asthma, wheeze, socio-economic inequalities, mediating

The Impact of Low-Income on Child Health: Evidence from a Birth Cohort Study

There is a growing literature that shows that higher family income is associated with better health for children. Wealthier parents may have more advantaged children because they have more income to buy health care or because parental wealth is associated with beneficial behaviours or because parental health is associated with both income and children's health. The policy implications of these transmission mechanisms are quite different. We attempt to unpick the correlation between income and health by examining routes by which parental disadvantage is transmitted into child disadvantage. Using a UK cohort study that has rich information on mother's early life events, her health, her behaviours that may affect child health, and her child's health, we examine the impact of being in low income compared to that of mother child health related behaviours and mother's own health on child health. We find children from poorer households have poorer health. But we find the direct impact of income is small. A larger role is played by mother's own health and events in her early life. No clear role is played by mother child health production behaviours.child health, income, maternal health, transmission mechanisms

The Impact of Low Income on Child Health: Evidence from a Birth Cohort Study

There is a growing literature that shows that higher family income is associated with better health for children. Wealthier parents may have more advantaged children because they have more income to buy health care or because parental wealth is associated with beneficial behaviours or because parental health is associated with both income and children¿s health. The policy implications of these transmission mechanisms are quite different. We attempt to unpick the correlation between income and health by examining routes by which parental disadvantage is transmitted into child disadvantage. Using a UK cohort study that has rich information on mother¿s early life events, her health, her behaviours that may affect child health, and her child¿s health, we examine the impact of being in low income compared to that of mother child health related behaviours and mother¿s own health on child health. We find children from poorer households have poorer health. But we find the direct impact of income is small. A larger role is played by mother¿s own health and events in her early life. No clear role is played by mother child health production behaviours.child health, income, maternal health, tranmission mechanisms

Health Supplier Quality and the Distribution of Child Health

There is emerging evidence to suggest that initial differentials between the health of poor and more affluent children in the UK do not widen over early childhood. One reason may be that through the universal public funded health care system all children have access to equally effective primary care providers. This paper examines this explanation. The analysis has two components. It first examines whether children from poorer families have access to general practitioners of a similar quality to children from richer families. It then examines whether the quality of primary care to which a child has access has an impact on their health at birth and on their health during early childhood. The results suggest that children from poor families do not have access to markedly worse quality primary care, and further, that the quality of primary care does not appear to have a large effect on differentials in child health in early childhood.primary care quality, child health