The Health Consequences of Adverse Labor Market Events: Evidence from Panel Data

Abstract

This study investigates the associations between self‐assessed adverse labor market events (experiencing problems with coworkers, employment changes, financial strain) and health. Longitudinal data are obtained from the National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions. Our findings suggest problems with coworkers, employment changes, and financial strain are associated, respectively, with a 3.1 percent (3.3 percent), 0.9 percent (0.2 percent), and 4.5 percent (5.1 percent) reduction in mental health among men (women). Associations are smaller in magnitude and less significant for physical health.

Do Minimum Wage Increases Influence Worker Health?

“…Finally, as discussed by Evans and Garthwaite (), while it is desirable to study the impacts of employment‐based public policy on objective measures of health status such as mortality, such analyses are difficult within working‐age populations (which are the targets of most employment‐based public policies) as mortality rates are very low within this group. Hence, the literature has relied on subjective measures that display more variation within working‐age populations (Apouey and Clark ; Bockerman and Ilmakunnas ; Cottini and Lucifora ; Gravelle and Sutton ; Lenhart ; Lindeboom and van Doorslaer ; Maclean ; Maclean et al )…”

“…However, to the best of our knowledge, it is not possible to accurately sign the bias for our continuous self-reported health variables. 21 The econometrics methods designed to account for reporting error in self-reported health rely on access to panel data (i.e., repeated observations on the individuals providing selfreported health), instrumental variables in the case of mismeasured right-hand-side variables, or survey design techniques in contingent valuation and other stated preferences studies (Bound, Brown, and Mathiowetz 2001;Greene, Harris, and Hollingsworth 2015;Maclean et al 2015). Given that we rely on the BRFSS, which is composed of repeated cross sections and is an observational study collected by the CDC, and the self-reported variables are our dependent variables, such methods are unfortunately not available to us.…”

Public Insurance Expansions and Smoking Cessation Medications

“…For instance, medication costs range from $100 to $500 in addition to healthcare professional consultation fees, and the annual income for a family of two earning 138% of FPL, the highest income level eligible under Medicaid expansion, is $23,336 in 2019. The newly available funds may be allocated to other health‐enhancing activities and/or may simply relieve strain related to financial problems (Maclean et al ; Maclean, Webber, and French ). We do not wish to imply that there is no health benefit for these individuals, rather we argue that any health benefit operates through different pathways.…”

The Impact of Sickness Absenteeism on Firm Productivity: New Evidence from Belgian Matched Employer–Employee Panel Data

“…Similarly, firms could invest more in developing employee-friendly work environments, because stress and mental health problems related to work are also known to be an important determinant of sickness and injuries (Bubonya, Cobb-Clark, and Wooden 2017). For example, they could consider investing more in information and communication technologies in the workplace, as those can significantly contribute to lowering occupational risks and injuries (Askenazy and Caroli 2010), or contribute to creating cooperative working environments, which have a substantial impact on employees' health conditions (Maclean et al 2015). Notably, given that sickness absenteeism unfolds with considerable social interaction dynamics, whereby the absence of a worker due to sickness influences other workers' absenteeism, it could be relatively easy for firms to reduce it in an effective way thanks to such multiplicative effects (Dale-Olsen, Østbakken, and Schøne 2015).…”