New Study Says Poor Health is Partially to Blame for America’s Unemployment
Employment numbers have been very encouraging lately, but a brand-new Gallup survey for the Center for Advancing Opportunity is cause for alarm. The survey found that the people who most need steady jobs (such as those living in impoverished neighborhoods) are actually still greatly behind the rest of the nation when it comes to employment. And, it turns out that poor health could be to blame.
“Low-income areas have an unemployment rate of about 10 percent, compared to our current national rate of unemployment, which is about 4 percent,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA, and employment trends expert. “While we tend to blame factors like lack of job growth in these areas, this new Gallup survey has pinpointed a very surprising culprit: Chronic health issues and overall poor health. This can include things like diabetes, obesity, back problems, and cardiac concerns.”
According to the survey, about 30 percent of job-seekers in these areas say that they can’t find work or maintain employment due to their health issues.
Wilson says that this survey is important because it highlights where our country’s focus needs to be in order to help improve job numbers.
“This Gallup survey is ground-breaking because it is one of the first of its kind to the two-way relationship between low socioeconomic status and poor health in these areas of the country,” says Wilson. “Hence, instead of just thinking we need to point the blame at jobs going overseas or positions becoming automated, we also need to look at how we can improve health education and offer more comprehensive early-intervention healthcare.”
Creating jobs needs to be one of our primary goals, says Wilson, but he also adds, “If our country is too sick to work, it doesn’t matter how many jobs we have. Health needs to come first.”
For more on this topic, please contact Rob Wilson at rwilson@thewilsoncompanies.com.