Fat Chance! Obesity and the Transition from Unemployment to Employment

Marco Caliendo and Wang-Sheng Lee

No 5795, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper focuses on estimating the magnitude of any potential weight discrimination by examining whether obese job applicants in Germany get treated or behave differently from non-obese applicants. Based on two waves of rich survey data from the IZA Evaluation dataset, which includes measures that control for education, demographic characteristics, labor market history, psychological factors and health, we estimate differences in job search behavior and labor market outcomes between obese/overweight and healthy weight individuals. Unlike other observational studies which are generally based on obese and non-obese individuals who might already be at different points in the job ladder (e.g., household surveys), in our data, individuals are newly unemployed and all start from the same point. The only subgroup we find in our data experiencing any possible form of labor market discrimination is obese women. Despite making more job applications and engaging more in job training programs, we find some indications that they experienced worse (or at best similar) employment outcomes than healthy weight women. Obese women who found a job also had significantly lower wages than healthy weight women.

Keywords: discrimination; obesity; labor demand; employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I12 J23 J70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2011-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-hea, nep-lab and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published in: Economics and Human Biology, 2013, 11 (2), 121-133

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Journal Article: Fat chance! Obesity and the transition from unemployment to employment (2013)
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