The Effect of Self-Assessed Job Security on the Demand for Medical Rehab
22 Pages Posted: 11 Feb 2010
Date Written: January 1, 2010
Abstract
The interdependence of labor market conditions and the demand for health care has been addressed by several theoretical and empirical analyses. We contribute to the debate by empirically examining the effect of a decrease in self-perceived job security on health care utilization. That is, employees at risk of losing their job might postpone or even try not to use non-acute rehab measures in order to reduce their individual risk of being laid off by avoiding absenteeism and signaling good health.
We use individual-level data from the German Socioeconomic Panel for the years 2003, 2004, and 2006. The identification strategy rests on an instrumental variable approach where the county unemployment rate and its relative change compared to the previous year serve as instruments for the employees’ self-assessed risk of losing their jobs. Contrary to the hypothesis, we have evidence for job insecurity increasing the demand for medical rehab. This finding is robust to various model variants.
Keywords: Rehab; unemployment, health care utilizatio, job worries, absenteeism, sick leave
JEL Classification: I11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
The Impact of Income on Mortality: Evidence from the Social Security Notch
-
Deaths Rise in Good Economic Times: Evidence from the OECD
By Ulf Gerdtham and Christopher J. Ruhm
-
Deaths Rise in Good Economic Times: Evidence from the OECD
By Ulf Gerdtham and Christopher J. Ruhm
-
Recessions Lower (Some) Mortality Rates: Evidence from Germany
-
Unemployment and Infant Health: Times-Series Evidence from the State of Tennessee
By Theodore Joyce and Naci H. Mocan