Study suggests union membership leads to a longer life

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A trio of statisticians at the University of Minnesota has found an association between union membership and lower mortality rates. In their study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, Tom VanHeuvelen, Xiaowen Han and Jane VanHeuvelen analyzed data mortality rates tabulated in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and calculated the impacts on longevity for people who belong to unions.

Prior research has suggested that belonging to a union can lead to higher pay and an increase in benefits. In this new effort, the researchers found that one such benefit appears to be living longer.

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is an ongoing survey of families who have agreed to participate and is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan. It is believed to be the longest-running, multi-generational survey conducted on a large scale.

As of 2023, more than 65,000 individuals have provided family data such as income, health data, education, employment, career goals, religion, life outlook and social environment. In this new effort, the researchers compared mortality rates over the years 1935 to 1965 and 1969 to 2019 among those who belonged to a union versus those who did not.

They found that people who belonged to a union tended to live longer. More specifically, they found that the odds of dying decreased by 1.5% per year for union members compared to non-members.

The researchers suggest that the reason union members live longer is likely tied to the benefits union members receive—they tend to be more highly paid, have more job security, more days off, and perhaps most importantly, receive better health care than do non-union members.

The researchers also noted that as union membership numbers over the past decade have fallen in the U.S., so too has life expectancy. It is now the shortest it has been in 20 years. This, they conclude, could be reversed by improvements in working conditions for people across the country, particularly those at the lower end of the economic scale.

More information: Tom VanHeuvelen et al, The mortality implications of a unionized career, Social Science & Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117620

Journal information: Social Science & Medicine

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