Katarina Kjellberg

Research problem and specific questionsDespite the overall decrease in cardiovascular (CV) mortality there is, especially among women, an increasing social gradient in Sweden. The explanation is not known. Our aim is to analyse to what extent this gradient can be explained by the increasingly unsecure labour market. The research questions are: How large a proportion of the effect of education on CV health is mediated through weak labour market attachment (LMA, unemployment and precarious employment)? What are the other possible work-related mechanisms?Data and methodFour life-course cohorts, born 1965 and 1973, will be used. Two of them are based on extensive register data about all Swedish inhabitants. Two are based on repeated questionnaires and extensive register data on all school-leavers from grade 9, in a middle-sized town. One contains repeated clinical data for 40 years. Data on exposure to LMA are available from school to midlife. Incident CV diagnoses and metabolic risks will be measured around age 56 and 51. All cohorts will be controlled for reverse causation and other confounders.While the register cohorts are complete and provide power and national representativity, the school cohorts provide rich data of high validity for analysing mechanisms and clinical outcomes. A qualitative study about possible mechanisms will be performed among those with highest risk of weak LMA who have been followed during 40 years with interviews.Sociatal relevance and utilisationElimination of avoidable health inequalities is a major goal in the Swedish public health policy. To reach the goal, knowledge is needed about the mechanisms behind. The increasingly insecure labour market is our focus, a priority also in policies around EU. Our results can be used in health promotion and by work environmental actors to support targeted interventions aiming at improved equality in health and sustainable work conditions during life.Plan for project realisationRegister update will be made of one school cohort. Advanced mediation analyses of work conditions will be made for the educational gradient in CV health, using latest methods for selecting confounders.  Several mediators can be included at the same time, so the effect of structural factors on health behaviour can be analysed. Follow-up interviews will be performed with the early unemployed group. The theoretical development aim at developing a working life-course theory. The budget cover salaries and register updates.

We propose an interdisciplinary research network to push the boundaries of knowledge about the sustainability of late work in Sweden’s ageing population. It addresses health and skills for late work participation in an inequality-sensitive perspective on the transformation of work and productivity, shifts in policies and the ongoing life-course changes in ageing Sweden with an ambition for impact.The network is based on two complementary programmes that are rooted in demographic, social and technological changes which have influenced the realms of work in potentially unequal ways. It is not only the availability of qualified labour but the sustainability of public finances, the inclusiveness of the society, the economic productivity in global competitions as well as generational and gender equity that describe major concerns and, hence, central policy goals in ageing societies. Societies require interdisciplinary knowledge on education and lifelong learning, health care systems, workplaces, employers, working conditions and their effects on people’s work participation.Acknowledging the need for an equal and inclusive prolongation of working lives, it needs an interdisciplinary network beyond single research programmes to generate added value by collaboration, dissemination and training. By initiating a series of events with programme internal workshops, seminars with invited experts and policy stakeholders from Sweden and Europe as well as public workshops and webinars, our network will foster interdisciplinarity, internationalisation and impact. Our training and mentoring activities with a collaborative PhD forum, a training school and a master class will support junior researchers’ careers, intensify intergenerational exchange and provide early-stage researchers (ESR) opportunities for active roles in planning and execution of activities. Moreover, we will advance capabilities for impact by joint dissemination and exploitation in Sweden and Europe.

The retirement age is being raised gradually to counteract the financial consequences of an increasingly older population. However, with increasing age, and in particular after 50 years of age, an increasing number of persons are excluded from the labour market due to health problems. There are also increasing difficulties for young people and people in marginalized labor market positions to establish in the labor market. The research program addresses major challenges to create opportunities for a sustainable working life for all groups on the labor market by strengthening and updating the research on risk factors for poor health, and labor market marginalization and exclusion over the life-span among young, middle aged, and older male and female workers.The aims of the program are to extend knowledge on risk factors for labor market marginalisation and exclusion over the life course (WP1-3), and to identify policies and measures at workplaces that support a long working life (WP4). In four work packages we will study:WP1. Effects of long-term and accumulated poor working conditions on preterm labor-market exit, and potentially risk-reducing effects of occupational change and reduced occupational exposure WP2 Working-life expectancy among different occupational and socioeconomic groups WP3. Determinants and consequences of labor market marginalization over the life courseWP4. Work organizational structures promoting a sustainable working life for all The program is based on research and research collaborations that we have been involved in for many years, in an established environment now under expansion and development. The research team consists of both established and junior researchers from Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and the USA. A large, compiled register-based cohort (SWIP) that includes the entire Swedish population, born around 1990 or earlier, will be used in WP1-3. Data from surveys and qualitative interviews will also be collected (WP4).

The ever-changing economic environment, technological advancements, general weakening of trade unions and changes in labor laws have led to the emergence of a variety of non-standard work arrangements. There are significant research challenges related to evaluating the consequences of these work arrangements that this research program aims to address.The overall purpose of this research program is toDeepen the understanding of how non-standard work arrangements affect individuals, families and communities and how these contribute to inequalities in work environment, health and well-being.Identify initiatives that counteract the negative effects of non-standard work arrangements and increase the ability of workers to participate, exercise empowerment, and live healthy lives.The program applies multiple methods including quantitative, qualitative, review and participatory research. It also involves extensive international collaboration and comparison. WP1consists of a total population cohort in Sweden 2003-2020 which will study effects of non-standard work arrangements on health and well-being of individual workers, their coworkers and families. WP2is a multi-country qualitative study exploring the complex inter-relations between non-standard work arrangements, health and well-being to gain a better understanding of howwork be proactively shaped to support the needs of workers. In WP3, which has three parts, we will 1) review case-studies from different countries of local policy initiatives which have aimed to stop or counteract the negative effects of non-standard work arrangements 2) follow and evaluate a government-sponsored program in Sweden involving unions and employers, aimed to counteract crimes and rules violations among companies as a means of gaining a competitive advantage 3) translate the results of this programme into practical tools for practitioners for assessing risks of non-standard work arrangements.