The Effect of Health Changes and Long-Term Health on the Work Activity of Older Canadians

Doreen Au (), Thomas Crossley () and Martin Schellhorn ()
Additional contact information
Doreen Au: McMaster University
Martin Schellhorn: University of Kiel

No 1281, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS), we study the relationship between health and employment among older Canadians. We focus on two issues: (1) the possible endogeneity of self-reported health, particularly "justification bias", and (2) the relative importance of health changes and long-term health in the decision to work. The NPHS contains the HUI3, an "objective" health index which has been gaining popularity in empirical work. We contrast estimates of the impact of health on employment using self-assessed health, the HUI3, and a "purged" health measure similar to that employed by Bound et al. (1999) and Disney et al. (2003). A direct test suggests that self-assessed health suffers from justification bias. However, the HUI3 provides estimates that are similar to the "purged" health measure. We also corroborate recent U.S. and U.K. findings that changes in health are important in the work decision.

Keywords: health; health changes; older workers; employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2004-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hea and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - revised version published in: Health Economics, 2005, 14 (10), 999-1018

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Related works:
Journal Article: The effect of health changes and long‐term health on the work activity of older Canadians (2005)
Working Paper: The Effect of Health Changes and Long-term Health on the Work Activity of Older Canadians (2005)
Working Paper: The Effect of Health Changes and Long-term Health on the Work Activity of Older Canadians (2005)
Working Paper: The Effect of Health Changes and Long-term Health on the Work Activity of Older Canadians (2004)
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