Adverse pregnancy outcomes in the United Kingdom following unexpected job loss

Alessandro Di Nallo, Bocconi University
Selin Köksal , London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Research has documented social and economic antecedents of adverse birth outcomes including involuntary job loss. Most previous work lacks high-quality data on conception, pregnancy outcome and exogenous job loss during pregnancy. We analyse fertility, partnership and work histories from the British survey UKHLS (“Understanding Society”) to examine whether a woman’s and/or her partner’s involuntary job loss during a pregnancy increases the risk of a miscarriage, abortion and non-live birth. Our preliminary findings show that risk of non-live birth increases when the mother or the partner are exposed to an unexpected job loss. Moreover, we find higher risk of miscarriage as a response to only partners' job loss. We find no relationship between unexpected job loss and risk of abortion. The findings suggest that a mother’s or a partner’s unexpected job loss adversely affects the completion of pregnancy.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 57. Family Dynamics, Work Conditions and Health