Background

Glasgow’s jobs base has grown at nearly twice the rate for Scotland and Britain over the past ten years (1), yet there remain approx 110,000 adults in Glasgow who are not economically active – equating to 30% of the working age population (2) .  One of the principal aims of the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership (3) is to create a ‘Working Glasgow’ through processes including addressing barriers that prevent access to employment and engaging with employers to create good quality jobs in the city.  

The relationships between work and health, and worklessness and health, have been well documented.   Unemployment is associated with a higher risk of death (4) and increased mental health problems.  Job insecurity is also damaging to health, and has been linked to higher rates of hospital admissions, increases in heart disease and deterioration in mental health.  In addition to these quantified relationships between unemployment and health, the presence or absence of employment has a range of consequences for people’s lives, materially, socially (5) and psychologically.

For those in employment, work which provides fulfillment and offers individuals a degree of control over decisions brings benefits to health.  In contrast, people in jobs which are lacking in self-direction and control experience higher levels of ill-health and death (6).  There is a need to illustrate the ways in which employers can support healthy working lives (7) and also to understand better how to extend the spread of healthy working practices across different sectors. 

Aim

To deliver deeper understanding about the links betwee health and employment in Glasgow.

To strengthen the evidence base for employment-related strategies to improve health.

Milestones

Effective diffusion and adoption of healthy working practices

This feasability study explored how to effectively encourage employers to adopt healthier working practices in their workplaces, in order to sustain and develop their workforce, who will increasingly have complex health needs as those on Benefit are supported to return to work. The study is complete (see link / reference 8 below) and has led to another study commised by Healthy Working Lives in Greater Glasgow to identify potential early adopters within Glasgow.

Scoping the potential for research into employment and health-related interventions for people on Incapacity Benefit

The aim of this project is to explore the variability by person, place and time of the Incapacity Benefit (IB) claiming population in Glasgow and the West of Scotland based on Department of Work and Pensions data.  The initial phase is complete (see link / reference 9 below) and the second phase of the research will provide further sub-group analysis by CHP/CHCP boundaries and neighbourhood forum areas across Greater Glasgow and Clyde over time.  This phase will be complete in early 2008. 

Full Employment Areas network research

This study used qualitative research techniques to explore how the relations and information flows within social networks relate to employability.  The study is unique - it took the social network as the unit of analysis, rather than individuals, structures or communities of interest (e.g. lone parents, drug users). A report and a briefing paper are now complete and available to download below (see link / reference 10). 

Working for a healthier life

This study explores the ways that health (or ill health) can act as a barrier to employment and how unemployment and re-employment impacts on health.  A case-study approach is being used, to analyse the experiences of people who successfully re-enter employment after a period out of work, and to develop understanding of the factors that successfully supported that transition.  The research report was prepared in July 2008 and is now available in the library (working for a healthier life research report)

Links / references

2. Hanlon P, Walsh D, Whyte B (2006) Let Glasgow Flourish, Glasgow Centre for Population Health

3. Glasgow Community Planning Partnership

4. Mclean C, Carmona C, Francis S, Wohlgemuth C and Mulvihill C (2005)  Worklessness and health – what do we know about the causal relationship?  HDA Evidence Review

5. Social Capital Assessment and Framework for Glasgow (2006)

6. Bartley M, Sacker A, Schoon I, Kelly MP and Carmona C (2005)  Work, non-work, job satisfaction and psychological health  HDA Evidence Review

7. Bushfield S, Beaumont P, Stewart S (2006) Healthy Working Lives: A Prescription - Learning from Good Practice Cases, Healthy Working Lives Steering Group

8. Briefing paper - Making Change Happen: exploring the effective diffusion and adoption of healthy working practices (April 2007)
Full report - Healthy Working Practices: a feasability study (February 2007)

9. Briefing paper - Turning the tap off! Incapacity benefit in Glasgow and Scotland: Trends over the past five years (July 2007)
Turning the Tap Off - Full Report
Turning the Tap Off - Appendices

10. Full Employment Areas Initiative Research
Quinn P, Seaman P Employment: Social Networks and Employability (January 2008)

Seaman P 'Employability and those furthest from the labour market: an analysis grounded in social networks' - Briefing Paper Findings Series 9 (March 2008)