Health, social inequality and exclusion from the labour market- Comparisons over time and between countries.

The project will focus on the ways in which socioeconomic position and ill-health influence exclusion from the labour market, over time and between countries, and whether men and women are affected differently. This national project will be part of an int ernational, comparative project headed by professor Margaret Whitehead, University of Liverpool, UK which will include at least six countries. The proposed project, which is designed to fit into the larger comparative project, has two Work Packages. Work Package 1: At the micro-level we aim to investigate the associations between individual characteristics, employment patterns and health indicators, over time and between countries. The Norwegian data sets to be collected and analysed are the Surveys of Li ving Conditions covering the period 1973-2005, and the Labour Market Surveys covering the period 2000-2005, the Survey of Living Condition Panel Data 1997-2002, and Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey (HUNT). Work Package 2: At the macro-level comparable informa tion will be collected on the following characteristics of the participating nations: economic structure and business cycles; labour market policy and legislation; health policy reforms; social security and social assistance; party/parties in political po wer. This information will be used for a systematic interpretation of country specific patterns of labour market exclusion among different groups.