Cargando…

Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a 20-year process of de-industrialization in the British Columbia (BC) sawmill industry on labour force trajectories, unemployment history, and physical and psychosocial work conditions as these are important determinants of heal...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ostry, Aleck S, Hershler, Ruth, Kelly, Shona, Demers, Paul, Teschke, Kay, Hertzman, Clyde
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2001
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC64495/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11782288
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-1-15
_version_ 1782120131159130112
author Ostry, Aleck S
Hershler, Ruth
Kelly, Shona
Demers, Paul
Teschke, Kay
Hertzman, Clyde
author_facet Ostry, Aleck S
Hershler, Ruth
Kelly, Shona
Demers, Paul
Teschke, Kay
Hertzman, Clyde
author_sort Ostry, Aleck S
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a 20-year process of de-industrialization in the British Columbia (BC) sawmill industry on labour force trajectories, unemployment history, and physical and psychosocial work conditions as these are important determinants of health in workforces. METHODS: The study is based on a sample of 1,885 respondents all of whom were sawmill workers in 1979, a year prior to commencement of de-industrialization and who were followed up and interviewed approximately 20 years later. RESULTS: Forty percent of workers, 64 years and under, were employed outside the sawmill sector at time of interview. Approximately one third of workers, aged 64 and under, experienced 25 months of more of unemployment during the study period. Only, 1.5% of workers were identified as a "hard core" group of long-term unemployed. Workers re-employed outside the sawmill sector experienced improved physical and psychosocial work conditions relative to those employed in sawmills during the study period. This benefit was greatest for workers originally in unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in sawmills. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that future health studies should pay particular attention to long-term employees in manufacturing who may have gone through de-industrialization resulting in exposures to a combination of sustained job insecurity, cyclical unemployment, and adverse physical and psychosocial work conditions.
format Text
id pubmed-64495
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2001
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-644952002-01-11 Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce Ostry, Aleck S Hershler, Ruth Kelly, Shona Demers, Paul Teschke, Kay Hertzman, Clyde BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a 20-year process of de-industrialization in the British Columbia (BC) sawmill industry on labour force trajectories, unemployment history, and physical and psychosocial work conditions as these are important determinants of health in workforces. METHODS: The study is based on a sample of 1,885 respondents all of whom were sawmill workers in 1979, a year prior to commencement of de-industrialization and who were followed up and interviewed approximately 20 years later. RESULTS: Forty percent of workers, 64 years and under, were employed outside the sawmill sector at time of interview. Approximately one third of workers, aged 64 and under, experienced 25 months of more of unemployment during the study period. Only, 1.5% of workers were identified as a "hard core" group of long-term unemployed. Workers re-employed outside the sawmill sector experienced improved physical and psychosocial work conditions relative to those employed in sawmills during the study period. This benefit was greatest for workers originally in unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in sawmills. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that future health studies should pay particular attention to long-term employees in manufacturing who may have gone through de-industrialization resulting in exposures to a combination of sustained job insecurity, cyclical unemployment, and adverse physical and psychosocial work conditions. BioMed Central 2001-12-03 /pmc/articles/PMC64495/ /pubmed/11782288 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-1-15 Text en Copyright © 2001 Ostry et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
spellingShingle Research Article
Ostry, Aleck S
Hershler, Ruth
Kelly, Shona
Demers, Paul
Teschke, Kay
Hertzman, Clyde
Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce
title Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce
title_full Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce
title_fullStr Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce
title_full_unstemmed Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce
title_short Effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce
title_sort effects of de-industrialization on unemployment, re-employment, and work conditions in a manufacturing workforce
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC64495/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11782288
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-1-15
work_keys_str_mv AT ostryalecks effectsofdeindustrializationonunemploymentreemploymentandworkconditionsinamanufacturingworkforce
AT hershlerruth effectsofdeindustrializationonunemploymentreemploymentandworkconditionsinamanufacturingworkforce
AT kellyshona effectsofdeindustrializationonunemploymentreemploymentandworkconditionsinamanufacturingworkforce
AT demerspaul effectsofdeindustrializationonunemploymentreemploymentandworkconditionsinamanufacturingworkforce
AT teschkekay effectsofdeindustrializationonunemploymentreemploymentandworkconditionsinamanufacturingworkforce
AT hertzmanclyde effectsofdeindustrializationonunemploymentreemploymentandworkconditionsinamanufacturingworkforce