A prospective analysis of labour market status and self-rated health in the UK and Russia

Summary

Comparing prospective data from the UK and Russia, this paper analyzes
whether the association of labour market status, and particularly
unemployment, with subsequent health varies by the level of state
protection provided to the unemployed. While the UK's unemployment
welfare regime is classified as providing minimal protection, the
Russian regime is sub-protective. Employing Cox duration analysis upon
data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey and the British
Household Panel Survey for the period 2000–2007, this study finds that
labour market status and economic circumstances independently predicted
individual-level declines in self-rated health and, contrary to
expectations, the associations of unemployment with health decline were
similarly sized in the two countries.