The relationship between employment and mental and physical health in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper estimated the relationship between employment and depression, hypertension, diabetes and tuberculosis in South Africa between 2008 and 2014. South Africa has high levels of economic inactivity and unemployment as well as a high disease burden occasioned by depression, other non-communicable diseases and tuberculosis. Data came from the National Income Dynamics Study panel dataset. Using fixed effects, random effects and pooled ordinary least squares regressions, depression and diabetes were associated with a 4–6 percentage point decline in employment probability, while tuberculosis was associated with a 12–13 percentage point employment decline. The results suggested that the employment-health relationship possibly operated through illness being associated with increased economic inactivity, rather than through making the search efforts of the unemployed unsuccessful. Moreover, the employment-health relationship not only existed contemporaneously, but extended into the future (especially for the physical health indicators).

KEYWORDS:

• Employment
• depression
• hypertension
• diabetes
• tuberculosis

JEL CODES:

• i15
• j21

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The upper age limit was to exclude potential recipients of the old age pension by 2014.

2 South Africa has four main racial groups: Africans, coloureds (mainly of mixed ancestry), Indians and whites.

3 Continuing sample members (CSMs) are wave 1 resident household members and the children of female CSMs who join the sample in subsequent waves. An individual qualifies for residence in a household if she satisfies the following three conditions: (i) Has lived in the homestead at least fifteen days in the last twelve months or arrived there within the last fifteen days and the homestead was now their usual residence; and (ii) Shares food from a common source with other household members when they are together; and (iii) Contributes to, or shares in a common resource pool.

4 ‘Matric’ is a colloquial term implying roughly 12 years of schooling in South Africa.

5 Also, statistical tests (available on request) indicate that those aged 25+ years in wave 1 had a higher prevalence of each of the health conditions, but were more likely to be employed than their younger counterparts in each wave (p < 0.01).