The Labor Market Impacts of GLP-1s

N. Meltem Daysal (), Camille Fredrickson, Ida Kristiansen, Mircea Trandafir () and Jonathan Zhang ()
Additional contact information
N. Meltem Daysal: University of Copenhagen
Camille Fredrickson: University of Chicago
Ida Kristiansen: University of Copenhagen
Mircea Trandafir: Rockwool Foundation Research Unit

No 18787, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: We estimate the causal impacts of GLP-1 treatment on labor market outcomes using linked Danish administrative data and a matched stacked difference-in-differences design. We compare patients who initiate GLP-1 treatment during the first two years of Semaglutide availability to observably similar patients who initiate four years later. We find that GLP-1 treatment reduces long-term sickness leave by 17.3%. We estimate total fiscal benefits of GLP-1 initiation of approximately 1.3–1.5% of annual labor income per employed individual. We do not detect statistically significant or economically meaningful impacts on income, labor force participation, or employment over four years.

Keywords: GLP-1; diabetes; obesity; fiscal spillover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H51 I10 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp18787.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Labor Market Impacts of GLP-1s (2026)
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:iza:izadps:dp18787

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mark Fallak ().