The Magnitude of Occupational Class Differences in Sickness Absence: 15-Year Trends among Young and Middle-Aged Municipal Employees

Hilla Sumanen, Eero Lahelma, Olli Pietiläinen and Ossi Rahkonen
Additional contact information
Hilla Sumanen: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20 (Tukholmankatu 8B), FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Eero Lahelma: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20 (Tukholmankatu 8B), FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Olli Pietiläinen: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20 (Tukholmankatu 8B), FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Ossi Rahkonen: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20 (Tukholmankatu 8B), FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: Background : Our aim was to examine the magnitude of relative occupational class differences in sickness absence (SA) days over a 15-year period among female and male municipal employees in two age-groups. Methods : 18–34 and 35–59-year-old employees of the City of Helsinki from 2002 to 2016 were included in our data ( n = ~37,500 per year). Occupational class was classified into four groups. The magnitude of relative occupational class differences in SA was studied using the relative index of inequality (RII). Results : The relative occupational class differences were larger among older than younger employees; the largest differences were among 35–59-year-old men. Among women in both age-groups the relative class differences remained stable during 2002–2016. Among younger and older men, the differences were larger during the beginning of study period than in the end. Among women in both age-groups the RII values were between 2.19 (95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.98, 2.42) and 3.60 (95% CI 3.28, 3.95). The corresponding differences varied from 3.74 (95% CI 3.13, 4.48) to 1.68 (95% CI 1.44, 1.97) among younger and from 6.43 (95% CI 5.85, 7.06) to 3.31 (95% CI 2.98, 3.68) among older men. Conclusions: Relative occupational class differences were persistent among employees irrespective of age group and gender. Preventive measures should be started at young age.

Keywords: socioeconomic differences; relative differences; sick-leave; young adults; employees; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/6/625/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/6/625/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:6:p:625-:d:100993

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().