Productivity or discrimination? An economic analysis of excess-weight penalty in the Swedish labor market

Margareta Dackehag (), Ulf-G Gerdtham and Martin Nordin ()
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Margareta Dackehag: Department of Economics, Lund University, Postal: Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Box 7082, S-220 07 Lund, Sweden, http://www.nek.lu.se/NEKMEK/Default.htm

No 2011:12, Working Papers from Lund University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Using longitudinal data, this paper investigates the penalty for excess weight in the Swedish labor market, distinguishing between the productivity and the discrimination hypotheses. We analyze employment, income, and sickness absence , using the latter as a direct measure of productivity. We find that excess weight women, but not men, experience a significant employment penalty. Both genders experience a significant income penalty for obesity. We conclude that the penalties are associated with lower productivity, primarily in terms of health. We find no evidence of discrimination.

Keywords: Employment; income; sickness absence; obesity; overweight (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I12 J23 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-lab and nep-ltv
Date: 2011-04-01
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2011_012

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