Social welfare matters: a realist review of when, how, and why unemployment insurance impacts poverty and health

Patricia O'Campo; Agnes Molnar; Edwin Ng; Emilie Renahy; Christiane Mitchell; Ketan Shankardass; Alexander St John; Clare Bambra; Carles Muntaner

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.025

Social welfare matters: a realist review of when, how, and why unemployment insurance impacts poverty and health

Soc Sci Med. 2015 May:132:88-94. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.025. Epub 2015 Mar 14.

Authors

Patricia O'Campo¹, Agnes Molnar², Edwin Ng², Emilie Renahy², Christiane Mitchell², Ketan Shankardass³, Alexander St John², Clare Bambra⁴, Carles Muntaner⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Research on Inner City Health, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, 209 Victoria Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M5B 1T8, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada. Electronic address: pat.ocampo@utoronto.ca.
² Centre for Research on Inner City Health, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, 209 Victoria Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M5B 1T8, Canada.
³ Centre for Research on Inner City Health, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, 209 Victoria Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M5B 1T8, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada; Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Sciences Building, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada.
⁴ Department of Geography, Durham University IHRR326, Lower Mountjoy, South Road, Durham DH13LE, UK.
⁵ Centre for Research on Inner City Health, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, 209 Victoria Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M5B 1T8, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada; Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada.

PMID: 25795992
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.025

Abstract

The recent global recession and concurrent rise in job loss makes unemployment insurance (UI) increasingly important to smooth patterns of consumption and keep households from experiencing extreme material poverty. In this paper, we undertake a realist review to produce a critical understanding of how and why UI policies impact on poverty and health in different welfare state contexts between 2000 and 2013. We relied on literature and expert interviews to generate an initial theory and set of propositions about how UI might alleviate poverty and mental distress. We then systematically located and synthesized peer-review studies to glean supportive or contradictory evidence for our initial propositions. Poverty and psychological distress, among unemployed and even the employed, are impacted by generosity of UI in terms of eligibility, duration and wage replacement levels. Though unemployment benefits are not intended to compensate fully for a loss of earnings, generous UI programs can moderate harmful consequences of unemployment.

Keywords: Health; Poverty; Realist review; Social protection programs; Unemployment; Unemployment benefits.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Health Status*
Humans
Poverty / psychology*
Public Assistance / economics*
Stress, Psychological / psychology*
Unemployment / psychology*

Grants and funding

MR/K02325X/1/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom