A Dynamic Approach of SES Mortality Differentials: Recent Evidences on the Link between Mortality and Occupational Careers in France

Emmanuelle Cambois, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Caroline Laborde, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

This new study goes beyond the well-established correlation between mortality differentials and occupational status, to focus on the impact of occupational careers on mortality risks. It shows heterogeneity in the mortality risks in the early 2000s within occupational classes, strongly related to the type of occupational moves experienced between 1990 and 1999. For men, the mortality risks of movers are between the risks in the class they left and in the class they joined. For women, downward occupational moves, or becoming inactive, are associated with mortality risks higher than in the class they left and often higher than in the class they join; upward mobility is not correlated with mortality, and becoming active reduces risks. Mortality heterogeneity within occupational classes is often linked to past professional mobility and this correlation has been reinforced with time. The study confirms that a dynamic approach helps explain social differences.