Can Active Labour Market Programmes emulate the mental health benefits of regular paid employment? Longitudinal evidence from the United Kingdom

Wang, S, Coutts, A, Burchell, B, Kamerāde, D ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2019-3391 and Balderson, U 2021, 'Can Active Labour Market Programmes emulate the mental health benefits of regular paid employment? Longitudinal evidence from the United Kingdom' , Work, Employment and Society, 35 (3) , pp. 545-565.

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Abstract

Active Labour Market Programmes (ALMPs), which form important components of employment support policies around the world, have been found to improve mental health and wellbeing of participants. However, it remains unclear how these health effects compare with the effects of different types of employment for men and women. Using 1991–2019 panel data in the UK, we find that unemployed women derive similar mental health benefits from ALMPs compared with employment. Unemployed men also benefit from ALMPs but obtain significantly more health benefits from formal employment. Such benefits are particularly pronounced in full-time, permanent and upper/middle-status jobs. Further analyses reveal that programmes that deliver human capital training have larger mental health benefits than employment assistance ALMPs. These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the mental health impacts of ALMPs compared with different types of employment, and highlight the need for a more gender-sensitive design in labour market interventions.

Item Type:	Article
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Applied Research in Health, Welfare and Policy
Journal or Publication Title:	Work, Employment and Society
Publisher:	Sage
ISSN:	0950-0170
Related URLs:	Publication
Funders:	Cambridge Political Economy Society Trust, The Health Foundation, Major Project of the National Social Science Fund of China
Depositing User:	Dr D Kamerāde
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2020 12:26
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 05:49
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/58520

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