%0 Journal Article
%T Labor relations and the overdose crisis in the United States
%J Addiction research and theory
%D 2021
%A Ikeler, Peter
%V 29
%N 4
%P 271-278
%X Background/Objective To assess the impact of noted long-term changes in US labor relations and labor market structures on the rapid rise of overdose death in the United States.<br><br>METHODS State-level overdose death rates obtained from the Centers for Disease Control were combined with Bureau of Labor Statistics data on manufacturing employment, unionization and self-employment, as well as Census data on key demographic variables to construct a longitudinal dataset (N = 51, including Washington D.C.). Linear regressions were conducted on a logged transformation of overdose death rate increases from 1999 to 2017.<br><br>RESULTS Deindustrialization and low self-employment significantly predict state-level increases in overdose death rates across all models; union decline approaches significance. Together, these three factors explain nearly 40% of variance in overdose death change between 1999 and 2017, maintaining predictive power in the presence of controls.<br><br>CONCLUSION Labor relations emerge as important predictors of overdose death and addiction. Specifically, worker autonomy--which is typically higher in manufacturing over frontline service, self-employed over dependent wage and salary, and unionized over nonunion jobs--appears to contribute in its decline to deleterious substance use.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Informa - Taylor and Francis Group
%@ 1606-6359
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2020.1793962