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Unemployment is bad for your health. It can cause serious, long-term physical and mental health problems, and exacerbate pre-existing conditions. Whilst the harmful effect of unemployment is felt by both genders, there is evidence to suggest that men are overall more likely to suffer adverse health consequences than women. This is particularly evident with those employed in temporary or unstable work, and amongst those men with a lower socioeconomic status.
Not only is poor health a potential outcome of unemployment for men, but it is also a barrier to returning to and staying in work. Employment services in the UK appear to have made few efforts to address this issue, despite potential capacity within the Work Programme to provide specialist health support. As unemployed men are less likely to access health services, new ways to support the health needs of this group are urgently needed if both health and unemployment outcomes are to improve.
Jobcentres must be supported to allow greater action to prevent poor health amongst unemployed men, helping back to work support providers identify men at risk of or already suffering from poor health. Incentivising Work Programme providers to address the health risks of unemployment is also likely to help tackle the situation.
The government must ensure that both preventing ill health and addressing existing health conditions that are barriers to returning to work are priorities within back to work support services.
Furthermore, there is an urgent need for further research in this area; little recent primary research has focused on health and unemployment in the specific context of the UK benefit system, in particular the Work Programme. The impact of changes to the welfare system such as increasing conditionality and payment by results incentive structures should be considered, as to should the health of the unemployed who are not claiming out of work benefit.