Most people consider their own health and that of their close relatives and friends to be the most important thing in life. From an economic perspective, illness and ill health might entail that the individual has a reduced working capacity and a loss of income while, at the same time, society has higher direct costs for social insurance, medical care and rehabilitation, as well as indirect costs for lower production of goods and services.

Today, a relatively large part of the labour force is outside the labour market due to reduced work capacity. Promoting good health and counteracting ill health in the population of working age is thus of great importance for both the individual and in order to meet the financial challenges that the welfare system is facing.

An increase in the knowledge of the connections between health and the labour market situation increases the possibility for society of earlier identifying groups that run the risk of being subjected to health problems and also designing measures and thus strengthening the possibilities for exposed groups on the labour market. For some of those who are already outside the labour market due to an inability to work, different kinds of rehabilitation targeting a return to working life might be required in order to make a return to the labour market possible.

Our research on health and rehabilitation concerns among other things:

• how unemployment and sickness absence might affect health and well-being among individuals and their family members.
• how long sickness periods can be avoided by rehabilitation targeting professional life.
• how individuals’ health affects labour force participation both among themselves and their families.

Contact: Erik Grönqvist, Per Johansson