California Labor Market is Strong, But Workers in Poor Health Don't Benefit, UCSF Study Reports.

Business/News Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 4, 2000

California's labor market remains strong, according to UCSF researchers. Results of the 2000 California Work and Health Survey (CWHS) indicate high employment rates among all working age Californians, long hours of work and large numbers of workers who report promotions, new and better jobs and increased earnings.

However, despite the strength of the labor market, job loss, short job tenures and poverty-level incomes remain common among some of California's workers, especially among people with physical or mental health problems, said Ed Yelin, PhD, professor at the UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies and the principal investigator of the 2000 California Work and Health Survey.

The survey, led by Yelin and co-principal investigator, Laura Trupin, MPH, senior research associate in the UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies, examines the health impacts of changes in the economy and examines how well people with health problems do economically.

Health plays a central role in determining who succeeds in the labor market, said Yelin. People who report fair or poor health are more than twice as likely as those in excellent, very good or good health to be unemployed. Among the employed, those in poor health are much less likely to report a promotion or a new, better job in the past year and more likely to earn poverty level wages and to lack pension plans or health insurance, he said.

The researchers reported that people with symptoms associated with depression have low rates of employment and, among those who are employed, poorer working conditions and lower earnings. Job loss can also lead to symptoms of depression. Among people who did not show symptoms of depression in 1999, those who lost their jobs between 1999 and 2000 were more than twice as likely to develop symptoms by 2000 than those who did not lose jobs, he explained.

The survey also found that even with California's high rate of employment, the longest expansion since World War II has not depleted the supply of workers available to be hired by the state's employers. About 1.6 million Californians (1.1 million age 25 or older) are available to work, many of them with the skills, education and experience necessary to succeed in the workplace. "These findings call into question the notion that there are no workers available with the requisite skills and experience. In part, it's up to the employers to provide incentives," Yelin said.

The 2000 survey was funded by a grant from The California Wellness Foundation and administered by the Field Institute.