Securing work and health when redundancies loom – does support from employment security funds buffer mental health consequences of potential dismissals?

Research problem and specific questionsThe aim of this project is to study the overall association between notification about a potential dismissal and mental health.

Particular attention will be paid to how support from the Employment Security Funds moderates any mental health consequences of dismissal notifications.

The project studies would contribute to empirical studies that directly address theoretical assumptions underlying the flexicurity labor market model, on which recent Swedish labor market reforms rest.Data and methodThe present project will use longitudinal, national administrative register data on dismissal notifications, employment histories, and clinically relevant mental health outcomes to address research questions using causal analytic approaches, including case crossover and quasi-experimental regression discontinuity designs.

The later allows us to test whether support from Employment Security Funds (i.e., the intervention) offers protection against mental health problems related to dismissal notifications.Societal relevance and utilisation‘This is the largest labor market reform in modern times”, is how the former Minister for Employment, Eva Nordmark, described the labor agreement implemented in 2022.

The changes, largely a flexicurity labor market model, increased flexibility for employers to lay off personnel and simultaneously increased access to more generous job transition and skill support packages, thereby improving employees’ security in the labor market.

Prior studies have examined the mental health consequences of exposure to job dismissals, downsizings, temporary contracts, etc. (the flexibility axis).

Less is known about the security axis, particularly transitions and skills support schemes for dismissed employees, which were more pronounced in the recent labor market reform.Plan for project realisationOver three years, the present project will investigate how job dismissal notifications influence mental health, paying particular attention to the potential moderating role of support schemes.

The lion’s share of the budget will finance the applicant’s salary and register data costs.

Other salaries include a statistician to assist with data curation and analysis and senior researcher who will work closely, partly as a mentor to the applicant. Running costs include software licenses, conferences/dissemination, and research collaborations. Indirect costs and for office premises are included too.