Does Job Satisfaction Improve the Health of Workers? New Evidence Using Panel Data and Objective Measures of Health

38 Pages Posted: 23 May 2008

See all articles by Justina A. V. Fischer

Justina A. V. Fischer

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD); Stockholm School of Economics; University of Hohenheim

Alfonso Sousa-Poza

University of Hohenheim - Institute of Household and Consumer Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Abstract

This paper evaluates the relationship between job satisfaction and measures of health of workers using the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). Methodologically, it addresses two important design problems encountered frequently in the literature: (a) cross-sectional causality problems and (b) absence of objective measures of physical health that complement self-reported measures of health status. Not only does using the panel structure with individual fixed effects mitigate the bias from omitting unobservable personal psycho-social characteristics, but employing more objective health measures such as health-system contacts and disability addresses such measurement problems relating to self-report assessments of health status. We find a positive link between job satisfaction (and changes over time therein) and subjective health measures (and changes therein); that is, employees with higher or improved job satisfaction levels feel healthier and are more satisfied with their health. This observation also holds true for more objective measures of health. Particularly, improvements in job satisfaction over time appear to prevent workers from (further) health deterioration.

Keywords: job satisfaction, well-being, health, panel data analysis

JEL Classification: I18, I19, J28

Suggested Citation

Fischer, Justina A.V. and Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, Does Job Satisfaction Improve the Health of Workers? New Evidence Using Panel Data and Objective Measures of Health. IZA Working Paper No. 3256, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1136418 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1136418

Justina A.V. Fischer (Contact Author)

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) ( email )

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Alfonso Sousa-Poza

University of Hohenheim - Institute of Household and Consumer Economics ( email )

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