Labour force participation and health in people living with HIV

This presentation discusses a body of research aimed at understanding the complex link between work and health in the context of HIV disease. Grounded in the study of causation hypothesis – i.e. employment leads to better health – this talk will draw from several studies that have used secondary data to examine the association between employment, job security and health-related quality of life. It presents baseline enrolment data from a community-based study designed to examine the health effects of employment transitions in HIV. This work acknowledges the difficulties inherent in analyzing data where the structure of benefit programs may create incentives for people with HIV to remain at work when their health is compromised (in order to maintain access to insurance) or disincentives to go back to work when their health improves (to avoid losing disability income or medication coverage).