Disability benefits and work reconsidered : is work really good for people with disabilities?

• OBJECTIVES: In this study we ask if employment is beneficial for people with disabilities (psychiatric respectively musculoskeletal diagnoses). We set out two hypotheses: 1) Disabled people with an employment report better health than those without employment. 2) Work conditions affect the extent to whichwork benefits the health.METHODS: We used longitudinal data, the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions 2002/03 and 2010/11. The number of respondents were 1925 including both people with diagnoses and a control group without any diagnosis. Linear Probability Models were regressed to identify variations between disability groups, as regards the correlation between paid work and self-reported health.RESULTS: People with diagnoses seemed to benefit from employment, and this was particularly evident for people with psychiatric diagnoses. The effect was also stronger in subjects with severe symptoms from their diagnosis. This may be because people with severe symptoms are more affected by their illnesses, and therefore gain more from participation in everyday activities. Having a job can work as an important source to fulfill various psychosocial needs. Further, experiences of poorer work environments tended to be associated with lower levels of health. This result is important given the trend that policies might result in that disabled people are forced to engage in work activities in order to receive benefits, irrespective of their work preferences.CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the policy aim to involve the disabled in paid work is appropriate for improving health but policies should be more flexible in relation to individual needs of the disabled.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Employment

psychiatric

musculoskeletal

diagnosis

work environment

disability policy

working conditions

Sociology

sociologi

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

rap (subject category)