Paper #897

Title:

Body size, activity, employment and wages in Europe: A first approach

Authors:

Jaume Garcia Villar and Climent Quintana

Date:

August 2005 (Revised: May 2006)

Abstract:

This paper examines the associations between obesity, employment status and wages for several European countries. Our results provide weak evidence that obese workers are more likely to be unemployed or tend to be more segregated in self-employment jobs than their non-obese counterparts. We also find difficult to detect statistically significant relationships between obesity and wages. As previously reported in the literature, the association between obesity, unemployment and wages seems to be different for men and women. Moreover, heterogeneity is also found across countries. Such heterogeneity can be somewhat explained by some labor market institutions, such as the collective bargaining coverage and the employer-provided health insurance.

Keywords:

Obesity, labor market, heterogeneity, institutions

JEL codes:

J3, I1

Area of Research:

Labour, Public, Development and Health Economics

Published in:

Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research, Vol. 17, 187-217, Elsevier JAI, 2007
With the title:
Obesity, employment and wages in Europe

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