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Cumulative Effects of Job Characteristics on Health

Jason Fletcher, Jody L. Sindelar and Shintaro Yamaguchi

No 15121, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We examine whether the job characteristics of physical demands and environmental conditions affect individual's health. Five-year cumulative measures of these job characteristics are used to reflect findings in the biologic and physiologic literature that indicate that cumulative exposure to hazards and stresses harms health. To create our analytic sample, we merge job characteristics from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles with the Panel Study of Income Dynamics dataset. We control for early and lagged health measures and a set of pre-determined characteristics to address concerns that individuals self-select into jobs. Our results indicate that individuals who work in jobs with the 'worst' conditions experience declines in their health, though this effect varies by demographic group. For example, for non-white men, a one standard deviation increase in cumulative physical demands decreases health by an amount that offsets an increase of two years of schooling or four years of aging. We also find evidence that job characteristics are more detrimental to the health of females and older workers. Finally, we report suggestive evidence that earned income, another job characteristic, partially cushions the health impact of physical demands and harsh environmental conditions for workers. These results are robust to inclusion of occupation fixed effects.

JEL-codes: I1 J0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lab
Note: AG EH
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published as Jason M. Fletcher & Jody L. Sindelar & Shintaro Yamaguchi, 2011. "Cumulative effects of job characteristics on health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(5), pages 553-570, May.

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Journal Article: Cumulative effects of job characteristics on health (2011) Downloads
Working Paper: Cumulative Effects of Job Characteristics on Health (2008) Downloads
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