Volume 133, April 2016, Pages 67–74
Highlights
- •
- This study identifies direct effects of subjective health on job status within occupations on the German labor market.
- •
- No health related selection could be found for men and in the public sector.
- •
- For women, 20% of health inequalities between high and low status jobs in the private sector are due to health selection.
Abstract
Objectives
Estimating
the size of health inequalities between hierarchical levels of job
status and the contribution of direct health selection to these
inequalities for men and women in the private and public sector in
Germany.
Study design
The
study uses prospective data from the Socio-Economic Panel study on
11,788 women and 11,494 men working in the public and private sector in
Germany.
Methods
Direct
selection effects of self-rated health on job status are estimated using
fixed-effects linear probability models. The contribution of health
selection to overall health-related inequalities between high and low
status jobs is calculated.
Results
Women
in the private sector who report very good health have a 1.9 [95% CI:
0.275; 3.507] percentage point higher probability of securing a high
status job than women in poor self-rated health. This direct selection
effect constitutes 20.12% of total health inequalities between women in
high and low status jobs. For men in the private and men and women in
the public sector no relevant health selection effects were identified.
Conclusions
The
contribution of health selection to total health inequalities between
high and low status jobs varies with gender and public versus private
sector. Women in the private sector in Germany experience the strongest
health selection. Possible explanations are general occupational
disadvantages that women have to overcome to secure high status jobs.
Keywords
- Germany;
- Health inequalities;
- Occupational health;
- Gender;
- Health selection
Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
