Long-term effects of a factory closure: Unemployment and disability during ten years' follow-up

doi:10.1016/0895-4356(89)90133-9

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

Volume 42, Issue 5, 1989, Pages 435-441

https://doi.org/10.1016/0895-4356(89)90133-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

The consequences of a factory closure on future employment, disability and death were investigated in a 10-year prospective follow-up study in a general practice setting. The study population consisted of 85 persons who lost their jobs when a brisling sardine factory close to Bergen in Norway was shut down in 1975. The employees of a nearby “sister factory” within the same company were chosen as a control population, consisting of 87 persons. After the factory closure, the annual employment rate of the study group showed a steady rise to a maximum level of 44% within 6 years, but even after 10 years never matched the employment rate of the controls. The cumulative rates of disability pension, granted for medical conditions only, was more than three times higher in the study group than among controls from the second through the fourth year of follow-up. This excess of disabilities then stayed relatively constant at approximately 17 per 100 persons from 5 to 10 years after the shut-down. Given present days' unemployment, the results of this investigation point to the importance of acknowledging a long-term effect of job-loss on health and social readjustment.

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Original articleLong-term effects of a factory closure: Unemployment and disability during ten years' follow-up

Abstract

Editorial. Job-loss and the use of medical services

J R Coll Gen Pract

Unemployment and Health. A Disaster and a Challenge

Unemployment and mortality: Comparisons of the 1971 and 1981 longitudinal census samples

Br Med J

Unemployment and psychological ill health: the moderating role of duration and age

Psychol Med

Changes in serum uric acid and cholesterol levels in men undergoing job loss

JAMA

Blood pressure changes in men undergoing job loss: a preliminary report

Psychosom Med

The experience of losing a job: reported changes in health, symptoms and illness behavior

Psychosom Med

Original article
Long-term effects of a factory closure: Unemployment and disability during ten years' follow-up