The linkage between work, or the absence of work, and health status is one that is increasingly supported by research. We find that communities that are disconnected from work suffer from higher rates of heart disease, depression and numerous other health impacts. In California, there have been substantial innovations in the economic institutions that fuel the economy and provide work. While California's New Economy has often been touted as a panacea for society's ills, raising incomes and pulling many people out of poverty, the numbers of working poor in California continue to be extremely high. Statistical scans of California utilizing Geographic Information Systems to overlay health and socioeconomic status indicators found strong relationships between poverty and poor health in neighborhoods clustered in the most prosperous regions of California's economy. California Works for Better Health, a joint project of the California Endowment and the Rockefeller Foundation is funding collaborative strategies to improve employment and job quality and resultantly to improve resident health in these dually impacted communities through capacity building, training, strategic planning and policy intervention. A major initiative addressing the social determinants of health in four regions of California, California Works For Better Health represents a significant effort to improve form and function of institutions which impact neighborhood economic and health conditions by empowering communities to be the catalyst for that change.
Learning Objectives: 1. TO understand and evaluate the connection between labor markets and health. 2. To describe interventions affecting employment and work and how those interventions improved health status. 3. To be able to begin identifying health problems in relation to type of work.
Keywords: Labor, Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Lorene Allio is employed by the California Endowment which sponsored the California Works for Better Health project.