UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AS AN UPDATABLE HEALTH NEEDS INDICATOR FOR SMALL AREAS

Background The objective of the study was to compare updatable unemplo yment rates with the unemployment rate and composite deprivation indic es from the 1991 Census as health needs indicators for small areas. Me thods Townsend, Carstairs and Jarman indices and male unemployment rat es were calculated from the 1991 Census, for 275 wards of the former E ast Anglian health region with unchanged boundaries between 1981 and 1 991. Male unemployment rates were also derived from April 1991 unemplo yment benefit claimant figures, using both Office of Population Census es and Surveys mid-year estimates of population and estimates derived from Family Health Services Authority patient registers as the denomin ator. Ward values were compared using Pearson product moment correlati on. Results All three unemployment measures were closely related to ea ch other and all were broadly as effective in predicting ward variatio ns in mortality and long-term illness in 1991 as the compound deprivat ion indices of Jarman, Townsend and Carstairs. Conclusion Updatable un employment rates were as suitable as the composite indices as an indic ator of relative health needs for small areas in the year of the Censu s and might be expected to be superior in inter-censal years.