Working-Time Mismatch and Mental Health

Steffen Otterbach (), Mark Wooden and King Fok

No 9818, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Nationally representative panel survey data for Germany and Australia are used to investigate the impact of working-time mismatches (i.e., differences between actual and desired work hours) on mental health, as measured by the Mental Component Summary Score from the SF-12. Fixed effects and dynamic linear models are estimated, which, together with the longitudinal nature of the data, enable person-specific traits that are time invariant to be controlled for. The incorporation of dynamics also reduces concerns about the potential effects of reverse causation. The results suggest that overemployment (working more hours than desired) has adverse consequences for the mental health of workers in both countries. Underemployment (working fewer hours than desired), however, seems to only be of significance in Australia.

Keywords: work hours; longitudinal data; Mental Component Summary Score (SF-12); mental health; Germany; Australia; working-time mismatch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2016-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - revised version published as 'Working-time regulation, long hours working, overemployment and mental health' in: International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2021, 32 (22), 4659 - 4686

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Related works:
Working Paper: Working-Time Mismatch and Mental Health (2016)
Working Paper: Working-Time Mismatch and Mental Health (2016)
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