Obesity and labour market outcomes in Norway. An association study of obesity and employment status

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Studies indicate that the obese face a poorer labour market outcome compared to non-obese. Obese have an overall lower wage rate, they are more likely to be unemployed and when they are unemployed, they are unemployed, for a longer period. The study aims to investigate the labour market outcomes in Norway for obese in terms of employment status. METHOD: The study analyses the relationship between obesity and employment status in two ways. First, the study uses a binary logit model to analyse the likelihood of being not employed for obese compared to normal-weight individuals. Secondly, the study uses a multinomial logit model to analyse whether there are differences between obese and normal-weight individuals in the likelihood to be unemployed, receiving sickness benefits or receiving disability benefits. RESULT: The result of the binary model for males show no indication of any relation between obesity and likelihood of being not employed. However, the result shows that being overweight has a small negative and significant association with the likelihood of being not employed. The multinomial analysis finds no significant association between neither obesity nor overweight. In the female subsample, the binary model report that obese females have 1.74 times higher odds of not being employed compared to normal-weight females. The result from the multinomial model indicates that the result from the binary model is driven by an association between obesity and the likelihood of receiving sickness benefits. Obese females have 1.92 times higher risk of receiving sickness benefits over being employed compared to normal-weight females. CONCLUSION: The study finds that obese males do not experience a poorer labour market outcome. Obese females, on the other hand, face a poorer labour market in the sense that they have an increased likelihood to be on sickness benefits compared to normal-weight females.