People who lose their jobs face an increased risk of developing health problems such as high blood pressure and heart attacks even if they find a new job quickly, a new study suggests.

Among white and blue-collar workers who lost their job through no fault of their own, such as workplace closures, the likelihood of reporting fair or poor health increased by 54 per cent compared with those with steady jobs, according to a study published in Friday's issue of the journal Demography.

"In today's economy, job loss can happen to anybody," said Kate Strully, who conducted the research as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"We need to be aware of the health consequences of losing our jobs and do what we can to alleviate the negative effects," she added in a release.

The study analyzed nationally representative data in the U.S. on 8,125 workers from 1999, 2001 and 2003 on establishment closures in a range of occupations.

• Managerial or professional positions (30 per cent displacement).
• Sales, clerical, and craft jobs (33 per cent displacement).
• Machine operator jobs (20 per cent displacement)
• Service positions (13 per cent displacement).

Among people with no pre-existing health conditions, layoffs increased the odds of a new health condition — such as hypertension, heart disease, heart attack, stroke or diabetes — by 83 per cent, the researchers said.

The increased risk for new stress-related health problems lasted even after workers found new jobs.

Among workers who were fired or laid off, there were some differences between occupations.

Blue-collar workers who were fired or laid off were more than twice as likely to report fair or poor health, but such job losses made no significant difference in health reported by white-collar workers.

The reasons for the difference were unclear, the researchers said.

They took age, gender, race, and education into account, but factors such as diet, exercise and family medical history were not considered.