Prospective Cohort Study of Sociodemographic and Work-Related Factors and Subsequent Unemployment under COVID-19 Pandemic

  1. Makiko Kuroishi
  2. Tomohisa Nagata
  3. Ayako Hino
  4. Seiichiro Tateishi
  5. Akira Ogami
  6. Mayumi Tsuji
  7. Shinya Matsuda
  8. Koji Mori
  9. Yoshihisa Fujino
  10. on behalf of the CORoNaWork Project

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Abstract

The previous studies found that women and low-income households were more likely to experience unemployment prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is no cohort study to examine the relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this prospective cohort study is to examine the relationship between sociodemographic factors and unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. We surveyed the socioeconomic status, personal characteristics, and occupation of recruited workers at baseline (22–25 December 2020); subsequent unemployment was examined at follow-up (18–19 February 2021). We determined the odds ratio of unemployment by sociodemographic status and occupation. The multivariate model was adjusted for sex and age. Among the 19,941 participants, 725 (3.6%) had experienced unemployment. Multivariate analysis showed significant high unemployment amongst women and participants of younger age, bereaved or divorced, unmarried, of lower income, or with short educational background. By occupation, the unemployment rate of temporary or contract employees and self-employed is high. COVID-19 expelled socially vulnerable groups from employment. This suggests the need for employment and economic support for such individuals.

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  1. Version published to 10.3390/ijerph19116924
  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.08.03.21261518v2 on medRxiv
  3. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.08.03.21261518: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsField Sample Permit: This prospective cohort study about COVID-19 among Japanese workers was conducted under the Collaborative Online Research on the Novel-coronavirus and Work (CORoNaWork) Project. Details of the study protocol are described elsewhere15.
    IRB: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan (reference nos.
    Consent: Informed consent was obtained from all participants.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    RandomizationFor the baseline survey, we recruited 33,087 workers throughout Japan from 605,381 randomly selected panelists registered with an Internet survey company.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    All analyses were conducted using Stata (Stata Statistical Software release SE16.1; StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX, USA).
    StataCorp
    suggested: (Stata, RRID:SCR_012763)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study has several limitations. First, the reason for the participants’ unemployment was unclear. We do not know if it was due to the effects of COVID-19, if a company went bankrupt, or if participants tried to change jobs of their own accord. However, we analyzed unemployment using two different definitions, and the results with both were almost identical. Second, the generalizability of our results is unclear because the study was conducted using an Internet surveys. Individuals who were truly in need may not have had Internet access and thus could not have participated in the survey. We attempted to reduce as much bias in the target population as possible by sampling according to region, job type, and prefecture based on the infection incidence rate. Third, among the 27,036 participants in the baseline survey, 7095 did not respond to the follow-up survey (non-participation rate, 26%). It is possible that some respondents were unable to participate in the follow-up survey owing to poverty caused by unemployment. However, if such individuals had participated in the survey, the association between SES and unemployment would have been stronger. In conclusion, we identified a relationship between SES and subsequent unemployment during COVID-19. It is necessary to provide broad, ongoing support in the form of both short-term assistance and long-term job training and health care.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  4. Version published to 10.1101/2021.08.03.21261518v1 on medRxiv