Age, industry, and unemployment risk during a pandemic lockdown.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Graham J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8450491 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:We use micro data on earnings together with the details of each state's unemployment insurance (UI) system to compute the distribution of UI benefits after the uniform $600 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) supplement implemented by the CARES Act. We find that between April and July 2020, 76% of workers eligible for regular Unemployment Compensation have statutory replacement rates above 100%, meaning that they are eligible for benefits which exceed lost wages. The median statutory replacement rate is 145%. We also compute comprehensive replacement rates, which account for employer provided non-wage compensation and differential tax treatment of labor income and UI. 69% of UI-eligible unemployed have comprehensive replacement rates above 100% and the median comprehensive replacement rate is 134%. The presence of the FPUC has important implications for the incidence of the recession and reverses income patterns which would have otherwise arisen across income levels, occupations, and industries.
| S-EPMC7525248 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Unemployment and violence both increased during the coronavirus pandemic in the United States (US), but no studies to our knowledge have examined their association. Using data for 16 US cities from January 2018 to July 2020, we estimated the association between acute changes in unemployment during the coronavirus pandemic and violent and acquisitive crime. We used negative binomial regression models and parametric g-computation to estimate average differences in crime incidents if the highest and lowest levels of unemployment observed in each city had been sustained across the exposure period (March-July 2020), compared with observed unemployment in each city-month. During the pandemic, the percentage of the adult population who were unemployed was 8.1 percentage points higher than expected, on average. Increases in unemployment were associated with increases in firearm violence and homicide. For example, we estimated an average increase of 3.3 firearm violence incidents (95% CI: - 0.2, 6.7) and 2.0 homicides (95% CI: - 0.2, 3.9) per city-month from March to July 2020 if all cities experienced their highest versus observed level of unemployment. There was no association between unemployment and aggravated assault or any acquisitive crime. Findings suggest that the sharp rise in unemployment during the pandemic may have contributed to increases in firearm violence and homicide, but not other crime. Additional research is needed on mechanisms of association, generalizability, and modifying factors.
| S-EPMC8793820 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Several studies have suggested that record high unemployment during the Great Recession was associated with deleterious changes in diet and weight-related health. However, studies have yet to explore whether the Great Recession was also associated with obesity-related health in utero. METHODS:We investigated whether increasing county-level unemployment was associated with large-for-gestational age (LGA) births, using repeated cross-sectional data from California birth records between 2008 and 2011 (n = 1,715,052). LGA was defined as >90th percentile, using the Oken reference. We use the annual 1-year lagged value for county-level unemployment (2007-2010) and limit our analyses to singleton, term births. Linear probability models, with county and year fixed-effects were used to examine the unemployment-LGA association. All models control for county-level foreclosure rates, child gender, and maternal age, parity, education, and race/ethnicity. RESULTS:An increase in county-level unemployment was not statistically significantly associated with the prevalence of LGA (percentage point [PP]: 0.12; 95% CI: -0.02, 0.25). But, over the period of observation, for every one standard deviation increase in unemployment, LGA prevalence increased by 5% and p = 0.08. CONCLUSIONS:These results cautiously suggest some deleterious effects of the Great Recession on obesity-related health in utero.
| S-EPMC7259553 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In two pre-registered online studies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the early 2020 lockdown (one of which with a UK representative sample) we elicit risk-tolerance for 1,254 UK residents using four of the most widely applied risk-taking tasks in behavioral economics and psychology. Specifically, participants completed the incentive-compatible Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) and the Binswanger-Eckel-Grossman (BEG) multiple lotteries task, as well as the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Task (DOSPERT) and the self-reported questions for risk-taking used in the German Socio-economic Panel (SOEP) study. In addition, participants in the UK representative sample answered a range of questions about COVID-19-related risky behaviors selected from the UCL COVID-19 Social Survey and the ICL-YouGov survey on COVID-19 behaviors. Consistently with pre-COVID-19 times, we find that risk tolerance during the UK lockdown (i) was higher in men than in women and (ii) decreased with age. Undocumented in pre-COVID-19 times, we find some evidence for healthier participants displaying significantly higher risk-tolerance for self-reported risk measures. We find no systematic nor robust patterns of association between the COVID-19 risky behaviors and the four risk-taking tasks in our study. Moreover, we find no evidence in support of the so-called "risk compensation" hypothesis. If anything, it appears that participants who took greater risk in real-life COVID-19-relevant risky behaviors (e.g., isolating or taking precautions) also exhibited higher risk-tolerance in our experimental and self-reported risk-taking measures.
| S-EPMC8046913 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSince the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019, many countries around the world have imposed lockdown measures in order to reduce virus spread. Social isolation is known to have a significant psychological impact, potentially triggering alcohol misuse in adults. In our study, we aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 lockdown measures on alcohol consumption in adults in Bavaria.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 2067 participants, with 1961 young adults (mean age 23.3 ± 4.1) and 106 mature adults (mean age 66.7 ± 9.7). Participants were asked to complete a standardized questionnaire, semi-quantitatively evaluating the alcohol drinking behaviour before and during the pandemic lockdown.ResultsAfter implementation of lockdown, the alteration of alcohol consumption was significantly different between young and mature adults (p < 0.001). Among young adults, 42% reported unchanged drinking behaviour compared to 76% in the mature adult group; 44% of young adults reported to drink less compared to only 7% of mature adults. An increase in alcohol consumption was only reported by 14% of young adults and 17% of mature adults. Interestingly, in the entire cohort, the change of alcohol intake was most pronounced among moderate drinkers (> 0 to < 5 drinks/week) in both age groups (p < 0.001). Ordinal logistic regression revealed female sex, low BMI and younger age to be associated with a decrease in number of self-reported drinks/week.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic lockdown significantly affected alcohol drinking behaviour. Further studies exploring long-term effects on potential alcohol misuse and the relevance on public health are warranted.Trial registrationThe study was retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT04361877 ) on April 24, 2020.
| S-EPMC8112739 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:There is raised risk of mortality following unemployment, and reviews have consistently found worse psychological health among the unemployed. Inflammation is increasingly implicated as a mediating factor relating stress to physical disease and is strongly linked to depression. Inflammation may, therefore, be implicated in processes associated with excess mortality and morbidity during unemployment. This study examined associations of unemployment with inflammatory markers among working-age men and women from England and Scotland. METHODS:Cross-sectional analyses using data from the Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey collected between 1998 and 2010. Systemic inflammation was indexed by serum concentrations of C reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen, and compared between participants currently employed/self-employed, currently unemployed and other groups. RESULTS:CRP, fibrinogen and odds of CRP >3?mg/L were all significantly raised for the unemployed, as compared to the employed participants (eg, OR for CRP >3?mg/L=1.43, CI 1.15 to 1.78 N=23?025), following adjustment for age, gender, occupational social class, housing tenure, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, long-term illness and depressive/anxiety symptoms. Strengths of associations varied considerably by both age and country/region, with effects mainly driven by participants aged ?48 and participants from Scotland, which had comparatively high unemployment during this time. CONCLUSIONS:Current unemployment is associated with elevated inflammatory markers using data from two large-scale, nationally representative UK studies. Effect modification by age suggests inflammation may be particularly involved in processes leading to ill-health among the older unemployed. Country/regional effects may suggest the relationship of unemployment with inflammation is strongly influenced by contextual factors, and/or reflect life course accumulation processes.
| S-EPMC4483793 | biostudies-literature
Project description:As the COVID-19 spreads across the world, many nations impose lockdown measures at the early stage of the pandemic to prevent the spread of the disease. Controversy surrounds the lockdown as it is a choice between economic freedom and public health. The ultimate solution to a pandemic is to vaccinate a massive population to achieve herd immunity. However, the whole vaccination programme is a long and complicated process. The virus and the vaccine will persist for quite a long time. How to gradually ease the lockdown based on vaccination progress is an important issue, as both economic and epidemiological issues are involved. In this paper, we extend the classic SIR model to find optimal decision making to balance between economy and public health in the process of vaccination rollout. The model provides an approach of vaccine value estimation. Our results provide scientific suggestion for policymakers to make important decisions about when to start the lockdown and how strong it should be over the entire vaccination cycle.
| S-EPMC8119293 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Both material resources (jobs, healthcare), and socio-psychological resources (social contact) decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated whether individual differences in perceived material and socio-psychological scarcity experienced during the pandemic predicted preference for cooperation, measured using two Public Good Games (PGGs), where participants contributed money or time (i.e., hours indoors contributed to shorten the lockdown). Material scarcity had no relationship with cooperation. Increased perceived scarcity of socio-psychological wellbeing (e.g., connecting with family) predicted increased preference for cooperation, suggesting that missing social contact fosters prosociality, whilst perceived scarcity of freedom (e.g., limited movement) predicted decreased willingness to spend time indoors to shorten the lockdown. The importance of considering individual differences in scarcity perception to best promote norm compliance is discussed.
| S-EPMC9589443 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundRisk factors for child maltreatment have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially due to economic downfalls leading to parental job losses and poor mental health.ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine the association between child maltreatment and unemployment rate in the Republic of Korea.Participants and settingNationally representative data at the province level were used.MethodsThe monthly excess number of hotline calls related to child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic was estimated for each province. Fixed effects regressions was used to examine the relationship between the excess number of hotline calls and unemployment rate.ResultsThe average excess number of hotline calls was significantly negative in the early stage of the pandemic, but became significantly positive afterwards except for some months with averages not statistically different from zero. The regression results showed that an increase of male unemployment rate by 1% was significantly associated with an increase in the excess number of hotline calls by 0.15-0.17 per 10,000 children for most dependent variables for the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The statistical significance of female unemployment rate was mixed with the opposite sign of the coefficient to that of male unemployment. Overall unemployment rate was not significant.ConclusionsThis study suggests that disruptions in child welfare services should be avoided to prevent underreporting of or delayed responses to suspected cases. Also, policies need to be designed considering potential pathways from economic downfalls, especially male unemployment, to child maltreatment.
| S-EPMC8752450 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) ineluctably caused social distancing and unemployment, which may bring additional health risks for patients with cancer. To investigate the association of the pandemic-related impacts with the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among patients with melanoma during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a cross-sectional study among Chinese patients with melanoma. A self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to melanoma patients through social media. Demographic and clinical data, and pandemic-related impacts (unemployment and income loss) were collected. HRQoL was determined by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) and its disease-specific module (the melanoma subscale, MS). A total of 135 patients with melanoma completed the study. The mean age of the patients was 55.8 ± 14.2 years, 48.1% (65/135) were male, and 17.04% (34/135) were unemployed since the epidemic. Unemployment of the patients and their family members and income loss were significantly associated with a lower FACT-G score, while the MS score was associated with the unemployment of the patients' family members. Our findings suggested that unemployment is associated with impaired HRQoL in melanoma patients during the COVID-19 epidemic.
| S-EPMC7937627 | biostudies-literature