The Role of Social and Labor Policies in Shaping Working Conditions Throughout the Life Course

Our contribution highlights the role of the political context, specifically distinct social and labor market policies in shaping individuals’ working lives, and thereby their health. For this, we summarize the most recent evidence about the impacts of active and passive labor market policies on working lives, as well we discuss the potential causal relationships between macrolevel policies and work-related individual outcomes together with first estimates quantifying the impact of policies. We do this by showing trends of work stressors in different countries with different set of macropolicies. Labor and social policies are often designed to improve the situation of individuals with disadvantaged working conditions. As such, they can have an impact on the employment and health trajectories of these individuals with indirect effects on health. Our contribution, thereby, pays particular attention on the impacts of macrolevel policies on socially disadvantaged population groups.