Measuring health in the European labor market: a gender perspective
Abstract
This study aims to corroborate whether workers’ health is better than the unemployed individuals’ health within the European Union framework and to determine the existence of gender disparities between both groups. To achieve this, two Synthetic Health Indicators were created, one for the employed and another one for the unemployed, with the P2 distance method. The structure of both indicators reflects that mental health and emotions are important to explain individuals’ health. After obtaining the average values of both Synthetic Health Indicators, we proved the existence of a territorial pattern characterized by a dualism between Nothern, Central and Southern countries, where the employed and unemployed’s health is better, and Eastern countries, where both groups’ health is poorer, although mostly among the unemployed. When analyzing differences between the employed and the unemployed depending on their sex, a clear pattern across countries is not found, however when calculating men and women differences according to their labor situation, in 18 out of 28 examined countries, women’s health is better than men’s, in particular, if they are employed. In this vein, labor situation affects men and women differently according to their country of residence, therefore, the labor market policies applied by each country play an essential role to mitigate the gender health inequalities.
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