U.S. Workers (u.s + worker)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Depression and Retirement in Late Middle-Aged U.S. Workers

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008
Jalpa A. Doshi
Objective. To determine whether late middle-aged U.S. workers with depression are at an increased risk for retirement. Data Source. Six biennial waves (1992,2002) of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel survey of noninstitutionalized 51,61-year-olds and their spouses started in 1992. Study Design. Workers aged 53,58 years in 1994 were followed every 2 years thereafter, through 2002. Depression was coded as lagged time-dependent variables measuring active depression and severity of depression. The main outcome variable was a transition to retirement which was measured using two distinct definitions to capture different stages in the retirement process: (1) Retirement was defined as a transition out of the labor force in the sample of all labor force participants (N=2,853); (2) In addition a transition out of full time work was used as the retirement definition in the subset of labor force participants who were full time workers (N=2,288). Principal Findings. In the sample of all labor force participants, the presence of active depression significantly increased the hazard of retirement in both late middle-aged men (adjusted OR: 1.37 [95 percent CI 1.05, 1.80]) and women (adjusted OR: 1.40 [95 percent CI 1.10, 1.78]). For women, subthreshold depression was also a significant predictor of retirement. In the sample of full time workers, the relationship between depression and retirement was considerably weaker for women yet remained strong for men. Conclusions. Depression and depressive symptoms were significantly associated with retirement in late middle-aged U.S. workers. Policymakers must consider the potentially adverse impact of these labor market outcomes when estimating the cost of untreated depression and evaluating the value of interventions to improve the diagnosis and treatment of depression. [source]


From Countertransference to Social Theory: A Study of Holocaust Thinking in U.S. Business Dress

ETHOS, Issue 3 2000
Professor Howard F. Stein
Observer countertransference is discussed as the nexus of ethnographic knowing. Psychoanalytic approaches are situated in relation to embodiment theory and knowing via the senses. Alongside the official view of managed social change as "nothing personal, just business," U.S. workers draw upon Holocaust imagery to make sense of what is happening to them. Several ethnographic vignettes from the U.S. workplaces constitute the evidential core of the paper. Observer countertransference is seen as a vital instrumentfor comprehending the psychic reality behind the invocation of Holocaust images that are camouflaged by business euphemisms. More broadly, observer countertransference, judiciously used, (1) serves as a bridge between cultural levels (say, individual, workplace, nation) and (2) contributes to the wider interpretation of culture. [source]


Depression and Retirement in Late Middle-Aged U.S. Workers

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008
Jalpa A. Doshi
Objective. To determine whether late middle-aged U.S. workers with depression are at an increased risk for retirement. Data Source. Six biennial waves (1992,2002) of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel survey of noninstitutionalized 51,61-year-olds and their spouses started in 1992. Study Design. Workers aged 53,58 years in 1994 were followed every 2 years thereafter, through 2002. Depression was coded as lagged time-dependent variables measuring active depression and severity of depression. The main outcome variable was a transition to retirement which was measured using two distinct definitions to capture different stages in the retirement process: (1) Retirement was defined as a transition out of the labor force in the sample of all labor force participants (N=2,853); (2) In addition a transition out of full time work was used as the retirement definition in the subset of labor force participants who were full time workers (N=2,288). Principal Findings. In the sample of all labor force participants, the presence of active depression significantly increased the hazard of retirement in both late middle-aged men (adjusted OR: 1.37 [95 percent CI 1.05, 1.80]) and women (adjusted OR: 1.40 [95 percent CI 1.10, 1.78]). For women, subthreshold depression was also a significant predictor of retirement. In the sample of full time workers, the relationship between depression and retirement was considerably weaker for women yet remained strong for men. Conclusions. Depression and depressive symptoms were significantly associated with retirement in late middle-aged U.S. workers. Policymakers must consider the potentially adverse impact of these labor market outcomes when estimating the cost of untreated depression and evaluating the value of interventions to improve the diagnosis and treatment of depression. [source]


Manufacturing and the new ANSI S2.70-2006 hand,arm vibration exposure standard

HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 6 2008
Donald E. Wasserman
Since 1918, hand,arm vibration (HAV) exposure, principally from but not limited to vibrating power tools and processes, affects some 1.5 to 2 million regularly exposed U.S. workers and many more worldwide. These HAV exposures usually lead to an irreversible disease of the fingers/hands called hand,arm vibration syndrome whose prevalence is as high as 50% in exposed worker populations. HAVS results not only in hand,arm deterioration, but invariably job loss. To help combat the mounting HAV problem, domestic and international consensus HAV exposure standards were developed and promulgated in the early 1980s; but for the first time, the European Union in 2005 passed into law exposure standards for both HAV and whole-body vibration. In response, in 2006 in the United States, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developed, replaced, and promulgated its 1986 HAV exposure standard S3.34 with a completely revised HAV standard,S2.70-2006,thus ushering in new profound implications for power tool users and tool manufacturers and countless related manufacturing operations throughout the United States. The background, salient aspects, safety and health, and manufacturing implications of this new ANSI S2.70 HAV standard are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Heavy Drinking, Alcohol Dependence, and Injuries at Work Among Young Workers in the United States Labor Force

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 12 2000
Mark A. Veazie
Background: To determine whether heavily drinking and alcohol-dependent workers are at higher risk of occupational injury, we analyzed the nationally representative cohort of people enrolled in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth since 1979. Methods: This analysis was restricted to the 8569 respondents in the 1989 annual interview (age 24,32) who were employed during the 6 months before the interview. We studied occupational injuries (excluding sprains or strains) reported within 6 months of the interview in 1989 (cross-sectional analysis) and 1990 (prospective analysis). Results: Among current drinkers, significant two-fold increases in the odds of injury for one or more episodes of heavy drinking were reduced to an odds ratio (OR) of 1.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.7, 2.1) in the cross-sectional analysis and an OR of 1.6 (CI 1.0, 2.8) in the prospective analysis after adjustment for confounding. No dose-response relationship with the frequency of heavy drinking was found. Alcohol-dependent respondents were not at higher risk of injury in the cross-sectional (OR = 1.1, CI 0.7, 1.8) or prospective (OR = 1.3, CI 0.8, 2.2) analyses after adjustment for confounding. Conclusions: For young U.S. workers, common occupational injuries (excluding sprains and strains) may not be strongly associated with alcohol dependence. Confounding by other risk factors may explain much of the association between being a heavy drinker and occupational injuries in this population. [source]


Meeting the challenges of an aging workforce

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2008
Michael Silverstein MD
Abstract Background Demographic, labor market and economic forces are combining to produce increases in the number and percentage of U.S. workers 55 and older. In some ways these workers will be our most skilled and productive employees but in others the most vulnerable. Methods The literature on aging and work was reviewed, including demographic trends, physical and cognitive changes, safety and performance, work ability, and retirement patterns. Results and Conclusions Older workers have more serious, but less frequent, workplace injuries and illnesses than younger ones. There is evidence that many of these problems can be prevented and their consequences reduced by anticipating the physical and cognitive changes of age. Many employers are aware that such efforts are necessary, but most have not yet addressed them. There is a need for implementation and evaluative research of programs and policies with four dimensions: the work environment, work arrangements and work-life balance, health promotion and disease prevention, and social support. Employers who establish age-friendly workplaces that promote and support the work ability of employees as they age may gain in safety, productivity, competitiveness, and sustainable business practices. Am. J. Ind. Med. 51:269,280, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]