Heterogeneity in the impact of health shocks on labour outcomes: evidence from Swedish workers

Petter Lundborg, Martin Nilsson and Johan Vikström ()

Oxford Economic Papers, 2015, vol. 67, issue 3, 715-739

Abstract: This article provides new evidence on heterogeneity in the impact of health shocks by using register-based data on the entire population of Swedish workers. We formulate a difference-in-difference design, where we compare the change in labour earnings across matched workers with a high and low level of education who experience the same type of health shocks. Our results suggest major heterogeneity in the effects, where a given health shock has a greater relative negative impact on low-skilled individuals/individuals with a low level of education. These results hold across different types of health shocks and become more pronounced with age. Low-skilled workers are also more likely to leave the labour force and receive disability insurance, sickness insurance, and unemployment benefits following a health shock. Our results suggest that heterogeneity in the effect of health shocks offers one explanation as to how the educational gradient in health arises.

Date: 2015
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