Description
Abstract
Since 2014 US life expectancy has been in a state of stagnation and decline. Two economists investigated this trend and found that an alarming number of suicides, overdoses or poisonings, and alcohol-related diseases, collectively labelled Deaths of Despair, was partially driving it. The most common victims are working class individuals without college degrees. A common factor behind Deaths of Despair is long term economic hardship. Moreover, between 1999 and 2022 approximately 3.1 million people have died due one of these three causes. Using psychologist LM Dodes theory of addiction which indicates that it stems from a feeling of powerlessness as a theoretical foundation this paper will examine how the US legal doctrine of Employment-at-Will and faults within US labour law has created a workforce that is at the whims of their employers. Its socio-legal analysis uses numerous International Labour Organisation conventions and recommendations such as Convention No. 158, Convention No. 87, and Convention No. 98 as key points of references on how the US is falling short and perpetually ceding power to employers. The primary victims of Deaths of Despair have been experiencing increasing difficulty in the modern American labour market which no longer values low-skill labor. These factors combined with deindustrialization have hurt the working class and are a major factor behind Deaths of Despair. Due to the complex nature of the factors behind Deaths of Despair, weakened labour unions and Employment-at-Will can be viewed as a partial explanation behind this epidemic.
