Employment Inequalities Through Busts and Booms

Abstract

In this article, we study trends in employment by education and longstanding illness (LSI), and discuss whether the findings are compatible with business cycle fluctuations or postindustrial labour market developments. Our analyses are based on data on the working age population (aged 25—66 years) from the Norwegian Survey of Living Conditions (1980—2005). We find increasing differences in employment between those reporting LSI and those who do not, while gender differences are getting smaller. Interaction terms from logistic regression analyses between time and LSI and time and education indicate that people with lower education and those reporting LSI are more often found outside the labour market over time. While the 1980s recession did not have much impact on employment inequalities, the more severe 1990s recession coincided with widening employment inequalities by education and health. Periods of economic recovery did not lessen these inequalities. The study concludes that health and educational inequalities in employment have been rising in Norway since 1980. As business cycle changes alone could not account for the development, elements of the postindustrial labour market are discussed and considered.