Category Archives: Jobs/employment
Paid Sick Leave: How Laws Can Impact Health
Nearly 40 percent of private-sector employees in the United States do not have access to paid sick days, making it difficult for them to miss work when they are ill or have a doctor’s appointment. Those who do stay home often suffer lost wages and risk being fired from their jobs. To avoid financial insecurity, employees often go to work while sick, according to the Network for Public Health Law.
Paid sick days, on the other hand, allow employees to stay home or seek preventive care without risking a family’s income or endangering the health of co-workers, customers and others. In fact, one study found that 7 million workers were infected with H1N1 in 2009 because their co-workers came to work sick. To combat this trend, some U.S. cities and one state (Connecticut) have enacted laws requiring employers to provide paid sick days, which was a topic explored in a webinar earlier this year from the Network for Public Health Law.
But as some cities are making moves toward paid sick leave, some state-level legislation is cropping up that could prevent cities and counties from passing their own paid sick days standards and enacting other workplace protections. Such preemption laws are being considered in at least six states, according to a post by Vicki Shabo, Director of Work and Family Programs, for the National Partnership for Women and Families.
"No matter where you live or work, no one should have to choose between job and family because he or she cannot earn paid sick days," said Shabo in the post.
>>Read the full blog post on paid sick leave preemption laws.
>>Read more on preemption.
Stable Jobs = Healthier Lives
The NewPublicHealth National Prevention Strategy series is underway, including interviews with Cabinet Secretaries and their National Prevention Council designees, exploring the impact of jobs, transportation and more on health. “Stable Jobs = Healthier Lives” tells a visual story on the role of employment in the health of our communities.
Some highlights:
- Since 1977, the life expectancy of male workers retiring at age 65 has risen 6 years in the top half of the income distribution, but only 1.3 years in the bottom half.
- 12.3 million Americans were unemployed as of October 2012.
- Laid-off workers are 54% more likely to have fair or poor health, and 83% more likely to develop a stress-releated health condition.
- There are nearly 3 million nonfatal workplace injuries each year.
- The United States is one of the few developed nations without universal paid sick days.
Also check out our previous infographics exploring the connection between transportation and health, and education and health.
>>For more on employment and health, read a related issue brief.
View the full infographic below.
More Jobs For Better Health: NewPublicHealth Q&A With Mark Pinsky
Mark Pinsky, Opportunity Finance Network
Today on The Health Care Blog, Mark Pinsky, President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network, a national network of community development finance institutions that provide funds for low-income communities, and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, penned a guest blog about burgeoning opportunities for economic growth and job creation to support healthier communities.
NewPublicHealth spoke with Mark Pinsky about the synergy between economic policy and health policy, and new cross-sector partnerships that could make a difference.
>>Also watch a video interview with Mark Pinsky here:
New Community Collaborations Focus on Education, Jobs, Safety to Improve Health
Twelve coalitions across the United States have been awarded Roadmaps to Health Community Grants by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). What's unique about these projects is that they include broad collaboration among everyone from policymakers, business, education, health care to the traditional public health and community organization players, and focus on the factors outside the doctor's office that can have a big impact on health, like education, income, employment and community safety.
Just a handful of examples include:
- Rhode Island KIDS COUNT and its partners will raise awareness about the strong connections between education and health, increase access to high-quality education and help Providence youth successfully enroll in and graduate from college, among other programs.
- Alameda County Public Health Department will make consumer-focused banking services more accessible to residents of low-income neighborhoods to help ensure financial security, which affects people’s ability to get health insurance, pay for preventive medical care, and afford healthy and safe places to live.
- The Wellspring Initiative will help create entry-level jobs and improve living conditions in several low-income, blighted neighborhoods in Springfield, Mass. to ultimately improve residents’ health.
The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program, a collaboration between RWJF and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, will also include other efforts to mobilize local communities, national partners and leaders, such as a prize program to recognize communities pioneering healthy changes.
Descriptions of all 12 grant recipients are available here. NewPublicHealth will be profiling the Roadmaps grantees in the coming months as they begin their work. Read more news related to the County Health Rankings.
Tom Mason on Engaging Employers in Community Health: A NewPublicHealth Q&A
NewPublicHealth reported yesterday on a Congressional briefing to launch a new report, Healthier Americans for a Healthier Economy. The report showcases several states and cities that have found that better health for their citizens can also improve their bottom line, often in partnership with businesses and other community partners. NewPublicHealth spoke with Tom Mason, president of the Alliance for a Healthier Minnesota, and one of the presenters at yesterday's briefing about the group’s efforts and preliminary outcomes in Minnesota.
NewPublicHealth: When did the Alliance for a Healthier Minnesota open for business?
Tom Mason: It began about two years ago. We started working with Target and Cargill and a couple of other early members about how to use competitions and information and entertainment to try to better engage employees regarding workplace wellness activities. Very sophisticated companies all are very aware of the return on investment at multiple levels regarding workplace wellness and prevention and overall well-being, but it’s not always easy to interest employees.
NPH: What background do you bring to the Alliance?
NACCHO 2011 Budget Cuts and Job Loss Survey: Cuts Continue
Robert Pestronk, National Association of County and City Health Officials
Job losses and program cuts continue to impact local health departments according to a newly released survey from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). Survey results show that in the last year, more than half of all local health departments reduced or eliminated at least one program. Services for mothers and children were among the hardest hit. Other areas that faced the axe: emergency preparedness, immunizations, chronic disease screening, and personal health services.
“Fewer staff means a loss of key protections for you and me,” said Robert M. Pestronk, M.P.H., NACCHO’s executive director.
But Pestronk says that with the loss comes resourcefulness. Case in point: in response to losing millions in their budget and eliminating 20 staff positions, Coconino Public Health Services District in Arizona became its own tax district in 2010 and now has a dedicated, stable funding source that lets health officials assign funding to local priorities.
NewPublicHealth spoke with Robert Pestronk about the NACCHO 2011 survey.
NewPublicHealth: What’s new this year that you haven’t seen before in job losses at local health departments?
Robert Pestronk: I think what we’re seeing new is the impact on programs and services that local health departments have been delivering. There is more impact in more places than we’ve seen before.
NPH: Are there any bright signs ahead? New creative ideas from local health departments to help deal with the funding cuts?
