Using a broad definition of health, an individual’s socioeconomic status needs to be taken into account for making appropriate observations of health conditions and developing effective interventions if needed. Individual’s employment or unemployment as well as corresponding income and access to insurance programs can have health implications for an individual and his/her family.
Individual’s employment or unemployment has an impact upon not only family income, but also access to insurance and health care facilities. Additionally, employment significantly affects the lifestyle, habits, level of physical activity, and opportunities for socializing. There is evidence that individual experience of unemployment can be regarded as a risk factor resulting in poor physical and psychological health and in some cases even suicide. Unemployment can be a social determinant of health inequalities among the main vulnerable groups, including those single mothers, main-earner women, and others. Valuable insights into the health implications of unemployment have been received within the latest decade, and according to them, individual unemployment can have certain health-related outcomes for individuals and their families.
Therefore, employment/unemployment are important criteria affecting a person’s physical and psychological health, having an impact upon individual’s access and attitudes to insurance and health care services, as well as their prevailing mood, moral choices, and corresponding opportunities for early diagnosing of diseases and their appropriate treatment. The effects of unemployment on an individual’s health condition prove that health cannot be limited to physiological factors only and requires taking into account an individual’s socioeconomic status which can have significant health implications.