Do People Become Healthier after Being Promoted?

Christopher J. Boyce () and Andrew J. Oswald
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Christopher J. Boyce: University of Warwick

No 3894, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Abstract: This paper uses longitudinal data to explore whether greater job status makes a person healthier. Taking the evidence as a whole, promotees do not exhibit a health improvement after promotion. Instead the data suggest that workers with good health are more likely to be promoted. In the private sector, we find that job promotion significantly worsens people's psychological strain (on a GHQ score). For the public sector, there are some tentative signs of the reverse. We discuss caveats to our conclusions, suggest caution in their interpretation, and argue that further longitudinal studies are needed.

Keywords: health; Whitehall studies; GHQ; locus of control; job satisfaction; mortality; status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap, nep-hea, nep-lab and nep-ltv
Date: 2008-12
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