Does work disability influence work trajectories around vocational labor market training in Finland?

Abstract

Abstract Background People with health problems have lower employment rates than the general population and they require special attention with respect to interventions promoting work participation. However, the contribution of health problems and work disability to labor market participation in relation to vocational training is unclear. Methods Using nationally representative Finnish register data on 42,691 job seekers entering vocational labor market training in 2008-2010, we constructed latent trajectory groups of work participation in the open labor market three years before and three years after training, identifying groups called “High-High”, “High-Low”, “Low-High”, and “Low-Low”. We plotted other labor market participation within these trajectory groups and using multinomial logistic regression examined assignment to these groups among those with and without previous work disability. Results Of the vocational trainees, 29.7% had previous work disability. Those with compared to those without previous work disability more often had previous employment and they spent less time in economic inactivity within the two trajectory groups with low pre-training levels of work participation. Having previous work disability was associated with assignment to the “High-Low” trajectory group of work participation instead of the “High-High” comparison group. The associations of other background factors with assignment to the different trajectory groups were relatively similar among those with and without previous work disability. However, some of these associations were weaker among the former. Conclusions A relatively large proportion of vocational labor market trainees had previous work disability, which influenced work participation in the open labor market and other labor market participation before and after training. Along with other key background factors, previous work disability should be accounted for when assessing the effects of vocational training. Key messages Previous work disability contributes to trajectories of labor market participation among vocational labor market trainees. Problems of health and work disability should be accounted for when assessing the effects of vocational training.