A recent study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report has shed light on the correlation between economic hardship and health outcomes among various occupational groups. the research underscores that the prevalence of fair or poor health generally increases with higher levels of economic hardship.

The study, utilizing data from the 2022-2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), focused on US adults who were either employed or recently unemployed. The analysis aimed to understand how economic hardship is distributed across different sociodemographic and occupational groups to better allocate resources for worker health support.

The BRFSS core survey gathers data on sociodemographic characteristics, health conditions, behaviors, and healthcare service utilization. The Industry and Occupation module classifies respondents’ job types into 22 standard occupational groups.The Social Determinants of Health/Health Equity module addresses economic hardship factors such as employment instability, food insecurity, housing insecurity, utility insecurity, lack of reliable transportation, and reliance on food stamps or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

The study defined high economic hardship as reporting at least 4 out of 8 indicators, which included lack of health insurance and cost-related barriers to medical care. Of the 165,060 eligible respondents, 6.9% were found to be experiencing high economic hardship. The most commonly reported issues were job loss or reduced work hours (16.5%),housing insecurity (12.2%), and food insecurity (12.1%).

The data indicated that high economic hardship was more prevalent among those recently unemployed, aged 18 to 49, female, with a high school education or less, identified as Hispanic or non-Hispanic Black, and earning less than $50,000 annually.

Occupations with the highest rates of economic hardship included farming, fishing, and forestry (18.5%), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance (18.2%), and food planning and serving (16.0%). In contrast, legal occupations showed the lowest prevalence at 1.2%.

12.5% of respondents reported fair or poor health,with similar demographics-Hispanic ethnicity,lower educational attainment,and lower incomes-being more likely to report such health status.

The study found that across occupational groups, rates of fair or poor health generally increased with rising economic hardship. this pattern was statistically significant across all occupations experiencing high levels of economic hardship compared to all workers combined, except for the construction and extraction group.

Key Findings on Economic Hardship and Worker Health

“Given associations between unmet economic needs and health, these findings can be used by policymakers…”

Researchers acknowledged limitations, including the self-reported nature of BRFSS data, which is subject to recall and social desirability biases. The data was also limited to respondents in 36 states and the US Virgin Islands, affecting national generalizability.

Despite these limitations, the researchers expressed confidence in their findings, emphasizing their relevance for policymaking.they suggest that these findings can help policymakers identify groups of workers facing disproportionate economic hardships and develop strategies to enhance economic security and health for all workers.