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Employment
How Employment Impacts Health
Employment plays an important role in individuals’ overall well-being, offering income, financial stability, and often access to health insurance. Meaningful work can also provide non-financial benefits, fostering purpose, identity, and social connections. Employment’s role in overall health highlights the need for policies prioritizing job creation, fair labor practices, and supportive workplaces to enhance the well-being of a community.
Indicators on this page:
Unemployment Rate
Why this is important: Employment status profoundly affects both mental and physical health. Individuals with stable jobs are less likely to experience depression, anxiety, or stress. A lower unemployment rate indicates a more economically stable community where people can maintain better overall well-being.
Definition: Number of residents, 16 years and older, who are jobless, actively seeking work, and available to take a job, as a percentage of the labor force
Trend: The unemployment rate in Whatcom County has been decreasing significantly since 2010.
Geography: There was no significant difference in unemployment rate between Whatcom County and Washington state in 2022.
Disparities: Discrepancies in unemployment rate in Whatcom County exist among residents of different age groups.
Learn more:
- WA State Employment Security Department
- Employment Literature Summary, Healthy People 2030.
- Work as a Key Social Determinant of Health: The Case for Including Work in All Health Data Collections, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023.
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