Local Labor Market Conditions and Health: Is there a Connection and for Whom?
- Presenter:
Chair: Thomas C. Buchmueller; Discussant: John Cawley Tue June 6, 2006 8:00-9:30 Room 326
Our paper examines the relationship between local labor market conditions and several measures of health and health behaviors for a sample of individuals living in the fifty-eight largest metropolitan areas in the United States. Since the effect of labor market conditions on health may depend on the extent to which one’s employment status is impacted by them, we split our sample into groups whose employment prospects are potentially more and less likely to be affected by such fluctuations. For example, we allow the impact of local labor market conditions to vary with individuals’ ex-ante employment probability. We also allow it to vary by race and education level since previous research suggests the labor market outcomes of non-white and less educated individuals are relatively more affected by economic fluctuations. In preliminary models, we find evidence of procyclical relationships for body weight and psychological well-being for men with low employment probabilities, but no systematic relationships for a variety of health behaviors including cigarette smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, and various levels of physical exercise for these same men. Separate estimates suggest worsening labor market conditions lead to weight gains and reduced psychological well-being among African American men and lower psychological well-being among less educated males. Among these findings, those related to psychological well-being are most pronounced.
