Training for the unemployed: differential effects in white- and blue-collar workers with respect to mental well-being

an article by Antti Saloniemi, Katri Romppainen and Pekka Virtanen (University of Tampere, Finland) and Mattias Strandh (University of Umeå, Sweden) published in Work Employment & Society Volume 28 Number 4 (August 2014)

Abstract

In this study we investigate the effects of active labour market policy measures on health and well-being and how these effects are connected with socioeconomic status.

The data were collected among the participants (n = 212) in 24 conventional vocational training courses in Finland.

According to the results, training was accompanied by improvements in health and well-being among participants with a higher socioeconomic status, whereas for blue-collar workers the changes were neutral or even detrimental.

The results raise questions about the role of active labour market policy measures as a public service. There seems to be a risk that these types of measures maintain or even produce health differences between socioeconomic groups.

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How Finland could improve our health

from The Guardian via IPPR

Britain's health inequality is the worst in Europe.

Jenni Viitanen examines how Finland turned their own geographic inequalities around in the 1970s and explores how the UK coalition government can learn from Finland's example by engaging with communities to encourage people to take more responsibility for their health.

Read the full article

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