ABSTRACT
As in many other areas of social determinants of health, policy recommendations on
employment conditions and health inequalities need to be implemented and evaluated.
Case studies at the country level can provide a flavor of “what works,” but they remain
essentially subjective. Employment conditions research should provide policies that
actually reduce health inequalities among workers. Workplace trials showing some desired
effect on the intervention group are insufficient for such a broad policy research area. To
provide a positive heuristic, the authors propose a set of new policy research priorities,
including placing more focus on “solving” and less on“problematizing” the health effects
of employment conditions; developing policy-oriented theoretical frameworks to reduce
employment-related inequalities in health; developing research on methods to test the
effects of labor market policies; generalizing labor market interventions; engaging,
reaching out to, and holding onto workers exposed to multiple forms of unhealthy
employment conditions; measuring labor market inequalities in health; planning, early on,
for sustainability in labor market interventions; studying intersectoral effects across
multiple interventions to reduce health inequalities; and looking for evidence in a global
context.
