Effects of female labour force attachment on health in Australia

Abstract

This study examines the impact of female labour force attachment on health in Australia, where health care is socially provided. Longitudinal panel data from Women’s Health Australia is used in a metric analysis to capture the impact of labour market attachment on the physical component health score of relatively young and older female workers. After controlling for the healthy worker effect – wherein firms hire and retain the healthiest workers – and other health‐related changes in socio‐economic status, the analysis suggests that even a moderate attachment to the paid labour force has benevolent effects on health relative to no or marginal attachment. Given the existing social structure in Australia, remunerative work generally appears to enhance the health of young women and arrest the decline of health for older female workers.

Keywords:

• labour force participation
• health
• enhancement effect
• long work hours

JEL Classifications:

• I10
• J08
• J16

Acknowledgements

The data on which this article is based were collected as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, The University of Newcastle and The University of Queensland. The author is grateful to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing for funding the survey and to the women who participated in the survey. The author would also like to acknowledge the astute research assistance of Ha Coa Duy.

Notes

1. It should be noted that there has been a trend toward a dual system of healthcare in some countries. For instance, Canadian employers routinely provide workers with health insurance in excess of the social system, and high‐income Australian workers are given a taxation incentive to purchase private health insurance as a supplement to public care.

2. Roughly 60% of women in the young cohort are happy with their hours, but the dissatisfaction of the other 40% may eventually diminish their self‐reported health ratings.

3. The analysis was repeated at a 25 hour threshold with little change in the results – see Appendix A.