Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    The effects of cancer in the English labour market
    (University College Dublin. Geary Institute, 2014-05)
    The continued rise in overall cancer survival rates has ignited a field of research which examines the effect that cancer has on survivors’ employment. Previous estimates of the effect of cancer on labour market outcomes, using U.S. data, show a significant reduction in employment and hours of work in the first 6 months after diagnosis. However, this impact has been found to dissipate after 2 years. I use data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and find that, not only does cancer have a negative impact in the first 6-month period following diagnosis, but also in the second 6-month period. I estimate that, in the second 6-month period after diagnosis, respondents with cancer are 20.7 percentage points less likely to work and work 24% less hours a week when compared to matched, healthy controls. This suggests that the negative effects from cancer can persist for longer than the 6 months identified in previous studies. Results are significant at the 1% level. These results have implications for government policy and employers, because it increases both the length of time that survivors may be on government supported sick pay and the expected time that workers will be absent from work due to illness.
      221
  • Publication
    Are Cancer Survivors who are Eligible for Social Security More Likely to Retire than Healthy Workers? Evidence from Difference-in-Differences
    (University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2015-02)
    Despite the fact that there are over a million new cancer cases detected in the U.S. every year, none of retirement-health literature focuses specifically on the effect that cancer has on retirement. Social Security may offer a pathway to retirement for eligible workers but the separate effects of both cancer, and Social Security, on retirement, need to be accounted for. I use the fact that some workers will be eligible for Social Security when they are diagnosed with cancer, while some will not, as a source of exogenous variation to identify the joint effect of cancer diagnosis and Social Security eligibility on retirement. With data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I use a difference-in-differences model to show that being eligible for Social Security, and surviving cancer, increases the probability of retirement by 11.2% for male workers. Given the increase in both cancer survival rates, and the number of older workers in the labour force, it is important to know if cancer is causing permanent exits, in a population who otherwise would continue working.
      90
  • Publication
    The Effects of Cancer in the English Labour Market
    (University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2014-05)
    The continued rise in overall cancer survival rates has ignited a field of research which examines the effect that cancer has on survivors’ employment. Previous estimates of the effect of cancer on labour market outcomes, using U.S. data, show a significant reduction in employment and hours of work in the first 6 months after diagnosis. However, this impact has been found to dissipate after 2 years. I use data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and find that, not only does cancer have a negative impact in the first 6-month period following diagnosis, but also in the second 6-month period. I estimate that, in the second 6-month period after diagnosis, respondents with cancer are 20.7 percentage points less likely to work and work 24% less hours a week when compared to matched, healthy controls. This suggests that the negative effects from cancer can persist for longer than the 6 months identified in previous studies. Results are significant at the 1% level. These results have implications for government policy and employers, because it increases both the length of time that survivors may be on government supported sick pay and the expected time that workers will be absent from work due to illness.
      124
  • Publication
    The Effect of Cancer on the Employment of Older Males: Attenuating Selection Bias using a High Risk Sample
    (University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2015-03)
    Estimating the unbiased effect of health shocks on employment is an important topic in both health and labour economics. This is particularly relevant to cancer, where improvements in screening and treatments have led to increases in survival for nearly all types of cancer. In order to address the issue of selection bias, I estimate the effect of cancer on employment for a high-risk cancer sample, male workers over the age of 65, thus attenuating the impact of many cancer risk factors. This identification strategy balances the covariates between the cancer and the non-cancer groups in numerous tests. Respondents who are diagnosed with cancer are 13.2 percentage points less likely to work than their non-cancer counterparts. The results also appear insensitive to omitted confounders.
      106