The following press release was produced and issued by Unum
Read the full report The economic impacts of leaving employment for health-‐related reasons
Leaving work due to illness and injury can be as damaging as becoming unemployed, according to new research from the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex. It can kick off a spiral of additional financial problems and have a wider impact on the household.
The research, commissioned by Income Protection specialist, Unum, reveals that leaving work for health reasons1 has a fundamental and long lasting impact on an individual’s finances, similar to becoming unemployed. More than 1 in 4 (28%) ill or injured people fall into poverty and one third are living in poverty within a year of leaving work.
If you leave work for health reasons:
- You are less likely to return to work than if unemployed. Just 1 in 4 people (24%) re-enter the workplace after 12 months compared with almost 50% of unemployed people
- You suffer a 25% drop in monthly household income2 vs a 28% drop for people who become unemployed3
- You have a 10% chance of having problems meeting your housing payments vs 8% for unemployed people. 8% of people who leave work for health reasons will begin to have problems paying for their housing after a year vs 7% for people who are unemployed
- Leaving the workforce due to illness or injury is associated with a 60% probability of stopping saving
Having to leave work due to illness or injury also has a damaging effect on the spouse or partner and the wider household:
- 15% of people leave work within a year of their spouse leaving work for health reasons vs 13% for those married to someone who becomes unemployed
- 28% of people with spouses who leave work for health reasons reduce their working hours in the first year and 37% have reduced them within two years
ISER’s research draws on British Household Panel Survey data, which has followed and interviewed the same 10,000 individuals in 5,500 households since 1991, collecting information about their income, financial behaviour, labour market status, housing tenure, household composition, education, health and other aspects of their lives.
Dr Mark Taylor, one of the team of researchers who produced the report, said that findings about the impact of leaving work for health-related reasons on the wider household were of particular note:
“The spouses of this group of people are less likely to be employed and are more likely to leave work than those of people who become unemployed. We also find evidence suggesting that spouses who stay in work are affected. For example, more than one third of the spouses of those who left work for health reasons and who remained out of work a year later reduced their working hours. This indicates that health-related withdrawal from work has wider repercussions, and looking at the whole household gives us a much broader and clearer picture than looking at individuals in isolation.”
Notes to Editors
For more information, please contact Shenel Otkay or Alicia Edmonds-Smith on 020 7260 2700 or <%= mail_to “unum@bluerubicon.com”, “unum@bluerubicon.com”, :encode => “javascript” >
Or Mandy Blanks at Unum on 01306 873616 or <= mail_to “mandy.blanks@unum.co.uk”, “mandy.blanks@unum.co.uk”, :encode => “javascript” %>
If you wish to contact ISER regarding any of its research, please contact Chris Garrington in the first instance <%= mail_to “cgarr@essex.ac.uk”, “cgarr@essex.ac.uk”, :encode => “javascript” %>