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01-07-2015 | Original Article - Services Research

Labour force participation and the influence of having arthritis on financial status

Authors: Deborah J. Schofield, Emily J. Callander, Rupendra N. Shrestha, Richard Percival, Simon J. Kelly, Megan E. Passey

Published in: Rheumatology International | Issue 7/2015

Abstract

The objective of this study was to quantify the impact that having arthritis has on income poverty status and accumulated wealth in Australia. Cross-sectional analysis of Health&WealthMOD, a microsimulation model built on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers and STINMOD, an income and savings microsimulation model. Across all categories of labour force participation status (employed full time, part time or not in the labour force at all), those with arthritis were significantly more likely to be in poverty. Those employed full time with no health condition had 0.82 times the odds of being in income poverty (95 % CI 0.80–0.84) compared with those employed full time with arthritis. Those not in the labour force with no chronic health conditions had 0.36 times the odds of being in income poverty compared with those not in the labour force due to arthritis (95 % CI 0.36–0.37). For people not in the labour force with no long-term health condition, the total value of their wealth was 211 % higher (95 % CI 38–618 %) than the amount of wealth accumulated by those not in the labour force due to arthritis. Similarly, those employed part time with no chronic health condition had 50 % more wealth than those employed part time with arthritis (95 % CI 3–116 %). Arthritis has a profound impact upon the economic circumstances of individuals, which adds a further dimension to the detrimental living standards of older individuals suffering from the condition.

The income unit is defined by the ABS as ‘a group of two or more related persons in the same household assumed to pool their income and savings and share the benefits deriving from them equitably, or one person assumed to have sole command over his or her income, consumption and savings’ [23].

Calculated for persons with wealth, some accumulated wealth, excluding those with zero wealth.

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Title: Labour force participation and the influence of having arthritis on financial status
Authors: Deborah J. Schofield
Emily J. Callander
Rupendra N. Shrestha
Richard Percival
Simon J. Kelly
Megan E. Passey
Publication date: 01-07-2015
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Rheumatology International / Issue 7/2015
Print ISSN: 0172-8172
Electronic ISSN: 1437-160X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-015-3224-2

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