Work-Related Health in Europe: Are Older Workers More at Risk?

Melanie K. Jones (), Paul Latreille, Peter Sloane and Anita Staneva
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Melanie K. Jones: Cardiff University

No 6044, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper uses the fourth European Working Conditions Survey (2005) to address the impact of age on work-related self-reported health outcomes. More specifically, the paper examines whether older workers differ significantly from younger workers regarding their job-related health risk perception, mental and physical health, sickness absence, probability of reporting injury and fatigue. Accounting for the 'healthy worker effect', or sample selection – in so far as unhealthy workers are likely to exit the labour force – we find that as a group, those aged 55-65 years are more 'vulnerable' than younger workers: they are more likely to perceive work-related health and safety risks, and to report mental, physical and fatigue health problems. As previously shown, older workers are more likely to report work-related absence.

Keywords: mental health; physical health; absence; fatigue; endogeneity; healthy worker selection effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I0 J20 J28 J81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2011-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-eur, nep-hea, nep-hrm and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Social Science and Medicine, 2013, 88, 18-29

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