Health Status and Labor Force Participation: Evidence for Urban Low and Middle Income Individuals in Colombia

Ana Iregui, Ligia Alba Melo-Becerra () and Maria Ramirez-Giraldo
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Ligia Melo ()

No 12304, Borradores de Economia from Banco de la Republica

Abstract: This paper uses the first wave of the Colombian Longitudinal Survey (ELCA) to analyze the relationship between individual health status and labor force participation. The empirical modeling strategy accounts for the presence of potential endogeneity between these two variables. The results show that there is a positive relationship between health and labor force participation in both directions, indicating that better health is likely to lead to a higher probability of participation in the labor market, and also that those who are in the labor market are more likely to report better health. Moreover, interesting differences arise when the database is further divided by gender and/or age groups. Our findings highlight the importance of public policy to guarantee good health conditions of the population which could also have a positive impact on labor productivity and consequently on long-run economic growth.

Keywords: Health status; labor force participation; endogeneity; Colombia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C35 C36 I10 J21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41
Date: 2014-11-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-lam and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://www.banrep.gov.co/sites/default/files/publicaciones/archivos/be_851.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Health status and labor force participation: evidence for urban low and middle income individuals in Colombia (2016)
Working Paper: Health Status and Labor Force Participation: Evidence for Urban Low and Middle Income Individuals in Colombia (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:col:000094:012304

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