The Impact of Obesity on Employment in South Africa

Abstract

Obesity is a growing health problem in South Africa. This health problem could have various implications for the South African economy. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of obesity on employment status in South Africa with the use of household survey data. The paper follows a quantitative research design that involves household survey data analysis through the use of a bivariate probit model to validate the relationship between obesity and employment. Data from the National Income Dynamic Study (NIDS), administered by the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), is used. The findings suggest that obesity has a negative impact on employment status in South Africa.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) for funding and to the Southern Africa Labour and Research Unit (SALDRU) for providing the data. The authors sincerely thank anonymous referees from ERSA, members of the Department of Economics and Econometrics at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and attendees to the 2013 conference of the Economic Society of Southern Africa (ESSA) for their useful feedback. An earlier version of this manuscript is published as an ERSA working paper. The authors also express sincere appreciation to the anonymous referee from S.E.E. for their rigorous feedback.

Notes

1 When this condition is violated, the instrument is said to be a weak instrument.