Report 2/2010
Employment and Work Task Group Report by Johannes Siegrist , Joan Benach, Abigail McKnight, Peter Goldblatt, Carles Muntaner
Summary

As part of the Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England, aka 'Fair Society Healthy Lives': (Marmot Review), a number of expert Task Groups were set up to provide evidence and preliminary policy proposals in key areas of interest for the Review. This element of the work came under the umbrella of the 'Working Committee 1'.

Working Committee 1 (WC 1) was asked to identify new evidence in the key policy areas where action is likely to be most effective in reducing health inequalities in the short (2010–15), medium (2016–19) and long term (2020 and beyond). WC 1 assessed evidence about the efficacy of interventions to reduce health inequalities in nine policy areas:

  1. Early child development and education
  2. Employment arrangements and working conditions
  3. Social protection
  4. Built environment
  5. Sustainable development
  6. Economic analysis
  7. Delivery systems and mechanisms
  8. Priority public health conditions
  9. Social inclusion and social mobility.

This Committee made recommendations identifying potentially effective actions in reducing health inequalities for Working Committees 2 and 3 to develop. The Committee ran from January to May 2009.

The Employment and Work Task Group consisted of Johannes Siegrist (chair), Joan Benach, Abigail McKnight and Peter Goldblatt in collaboration with Carles Muntaner.

They proposed 5 main policy recommendations:

  • Increased job security
  • Enhanced participation at work
  • Promotion of control and reward at work
  • Reintegration of sick, disabled and unemployed people
  • Strengthened work-life balance.