Does social capital matter more when health status is poor? Labour market attachment among long-term recipients of social assistance in Norway

ABSTRACT

Long-term social assistance recipients are a disadvantaged group with loose labour market attachment, and they are therefore in dire need of an ‘alternative route’ into employment. Differing types of social capital (bonding, bridging, and trust) could improve job opportunities, and perhaps especially so for social assistance recipients with poor health. The current paper uses a linked survey-register data material on a cohort of Norwegian long-term social assistance recipients, which holds rich information on both health status and social capital at baseline (2005). Linear probability models are estimated, with differing operationalisations of wage income (2005–2013) as the outcome. Three main empirical findings appear. First, both mental and somatic health status is highly consequential for labour market attachment among social assistance recipients in Norway. Second, rather few social capital indicators are associated with employment probability, with three noticeable exceptions: loneliness, active organisational membership, and social trust all show a statistical relationship with employment. Third, there is some indication that people with ill health profit less from both bridging social capital and social trust, compared to people with good health status. In conclusion, health status matters a lot and social capital matters a little for labour market attachment among long-term social assistance recipients.

SAMMENDRAG

Langtidsmottagere av økonomisk sosialhjelp er en sårbare gruppe med svak tilknytning til arbeidsmarkedet, og de har derfor et stort behov for en ‘alternativ vei’ inn i arbeidslivet. Ulike typer sosial kapital kan vise seg å forbedre arbeidsmulighetene, og kanskje særlig for langtidssosialhjelpmottagere med dårlig helsetilstand. Denne studien bruker et unikt sammenkoblet spørreskjema-register data material for en kohort langtidsmottagere av økonomisk sosialhjelp, som inneholder rik informasjon om både helsestatus og sosial kapital. Lineære sannsynlighetsmodeller blir estimert med ulike operasjonaliseringer av lønnsinntekt som utfallsvariabel. Tre hovedresultater trer frem fra analysene. For det første, både mental og somatisk helse er svært avgjørende for arbeidsmarkedstilknytningen til langtidssosialhjelpmottagere i Norge. For det andre, ganske få sosial kapital variabler henger sammen med sannsynligheten for sysselsetting, med tre merkbare unntak: ensomhet, aktivt medlemskap i organisasjoner, og sosial tillit viser seg å ha en sammenheng med arbeidsutfall. For det tredje, det er noen indikasjoner på at personer med dårlig helse har mindre utbytte av sosial kapital, sammenlignet med personer som har god helse. For å konkludere, helsetilstand betyr mye og sosial kapital betyr noe for arbeidsmarkedstilknytningen til langtidsmottagere av økonomisk sosialhjelp.

KEYWORDS:

• Social assistance
• employment
• social ties
• health selection
• Norway

NØKKELORD:

• Økonomisk sosialhjelp
• sysselsetting
• sosiale bånd
• helseseleksjon
• Norge

Acknowledgments

The present paper is a part of the project ‘Social assistance dynamics: A linked survey – register data cohort study’ [‘Funksjonsevnestudien – En oppfølgingsstudie av sosialhjelpsmottakere’]. We appreciate Statistics Norway's assistance in facilitating the register data used in the current study. We would like to thank Jon Ivar Elstad and the project team for valuable comments and suggestions on a previous version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) (grant number: 12/2243).

Notes on contributors

Kristian Heggebø

Kristian Heggebø holds a master's degree in sociology (2012) from the University of Oslo and a PhD in social policy (2016) from Oslo and Akershus University College. Heggebø works as a Senior Researcher at NOVA/OsloMet, and his research interests include socioeconomic inequalities in health, labour market analyses, educational attainment, and statistical modelling. His most recent international publications are ‘Is it easier to be unemployed when the experience is more widely shared? Effects of unemployment on self-rated health in 25 European countries with diverging macroeconomic conditions' in European Sociological Review (2018), ‘Socioeconomic inequalities in health during the Great Recession: A scoping review of the research literature’ in Scandinavian Journal of Public Health (2019), and ‘Is there less labour market exclusion of people with ill health in ‘flexicurity’ countries? Comparative evidence from Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium’ in International Journal of Health Services (2019).

Kjetil van der Wel

Kjetil van der Wel is Professor of social policy at Oslo Metropolitan University. He has conducted research on social inequalities in health, health-related and socioeconomic inequalities in employment, poverty, social exclusion and welfare attitudes. He has in particular focussed on comparative analyses of the role of social protection policies in these issues, and is currently leading two large Nordic research projects. Recent publications include ‘European health inequality through the Great Recession: Social policy matters’ (Sociology of Health and Illness, 2018), ‘Success and failure in narrowing the disability employment gap: comparing levels and trends across Europe 2002–2014’ (BMC Public Health, 2017) and ‘The bigger the worse? A comparative study of the welfare state and employment commitment’ (Work, Employment and Society, 2015).

Espen Dahl

Espen Dahl is a Professor of health and social policy at Oslo Metropolitan University. He earned his PhD in 1994 at the University of Oslo. His research ambitions are interdisciplinary in terms of efforts to integrate (inequality in) health research and studies on labour market policies and welfare policies. Research topics include effect evaluations of ALMPs and activation programmes, the links between social inequality, employment and health, and policy analyse of welfare and labour market reforms. These themes include an international comparative perspective, with a particular emphasis on how employment among disadvantaged groups varies between countries with differing types of welfare and labour market arrangements.