Health Economics of the Workplace: Workplace Accidents and Effects of Job Loss and Retirement

Abstract

There are three main topics in research on the effects of work on health. The first topic is workplace accidents where the main issues are reporting behavior and workplace safety policies. A worker seems to be less inclined to report a workplace accident for fear of job loss when unemployment is high or when the worker has a temporary contract that may not be renewed. Workplace safety legislation has intended to reduce the incidence and severity of workplace accidents but empirical evidence on this result is unclear. The second topic is employment and health where the focus is on how job characteristics and job loss affect health, in particular mental health. Physically demanding jobs have negative health effects. The effects of working hours vary and the effects of job loss on physical and mental health are not uniform. Job loss seems to increase mortality. The third topic concerns retirement and health. Retirement seems to have a negative effect on cognitive skills and short-term positive effects on overall health. Other than that, the effects are very inconsistent, that is, even with as clear a measure as mortality, it is not clear whether life expectancy goes up, goes down, or remains constant due to retirement.