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Do working hours affect health? Evidence from statutory workweek regulations in Germany

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  • Cygan-Rehm, Kamila
  • Wunder, Christoph

Abstract

This study estimates the causal effect of working hours on health. We deal with the endogeneity of working hours through instrumental variables techniques. In particular, we exploit exogenous variation in working hours from statutory workweek regulations in the German public sector as an instrumental variable. Using panel data, we run two-stage least squares regressions controlling for individual-specific unobserved heterogeneity. We find adverse consequences of increasing working hours on subjective and several objective health measures. The effects are mainly driven by women and parents of minor children who generally face heavier constraints in organizing their workweek.

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  • Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Wunder, Christoph, 2018. "Do working hours affect health? Evidence from statutory workweek regulations in Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 162-171.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:53:y:2018:i:c:p:162-171
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2018.05.003
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    Cited by:

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    5. Berniell, Inés & Bietenbeck, Jan, 2020. "The effect of working hours on health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    6. INUI Tomohiko & KAWAKAMI Atsushi & MA Xin Xin & ZHAO Meng, 2019. "Does Mental Health Affect Labor Market Outcomes? Evidence from a National Representative Survey in Japan," Discussion papers 19061, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    7. Lucas Hafner & Benjamin Lochner, 2022. "Do minimum wages improve self-rated health? Evidence from a natural experiment," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(6), pages 2989-3014, June.
    8. Mehrzad B. Baktash & John S. Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn, 2024. "Variable Pay and Work Hours: Does Performance Pay Reduce the Gender Time Gap?," Research Papers in Economics 2024-08, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    9. Tchuente, Guy & Kakeu, Johnson & Francois, John Nana, 2021. "The Forest Behind the Tree: Heterogeneity in How US Governor's Party Affects Black Workers," GLO Discussion Paper Series 947, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Miki Kohara & Taisei Noda, 2023. "The causal effects of working time on mental health: The effectiveness of the law reform raising the overtime wage penalty," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 638-664, December.
    11. Burdin, Gabriel & Kambayashi, Ryo & Kato, Takao, 2024. "The Impact of Overtime Limits on Firms and Workers: Evidence from Japan's Work Style Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 17583, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Anthony Lepinteur, 2021. "The asymmetric experience of gains and losses in job security on health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(9), pages 2217-2229, September.
    13. Hoffmann, Bridget & Rud, Juan Pablo, 2022. "Exposure or Income? The Unequal Effects of Pollution on Daily Labor Supply," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 11985, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Terhi Ravaska, 2023. "Do reduced working hours for older workers have health consequences and prolong work careers?," Working Papers 6, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research.
    15. Bridget Hoffmann & Juan Pablo Rud, 2022. "Exposure or Income? The Unequal Effects of Pollution on Daily Labor Supply," Working Papers 109, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    16. Ravaska, Terhi, 2023. "Do reduced working hours for older workers have health consequences and prolong work careers?," Working Papers 153, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    17. Hafner, Lucas, 2019. "Do minimum wages improve self-rated health? Evidence from a natural experiment," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 02/2019, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    18. Taehyun Ahn, 2022. "Workweek reduction and women's job turnover: Evidence from labor legislation in South Korea," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(4), pages 1607-1625, October.
    19. Bridget Hoffmann & Juan Pablo Rud, 2024. "The Unequal Effects of Pollution on Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(4), pages 1063-1096, July.
    20. Xu, Yuanwei & Wang, Feicheng, 2022. "The health consequence of rising housing prices in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 114-137.
    21. Lauren E. Jones & Guangyi Wang & Tansel Yilmazer, 2022. "The long‐term effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit on women's physical and mental health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(6), pages 1067-1102, June.
    22. SATO Kaori & KURODA Sachiko & OWAN Hideo, 2024. "Personality Traits as Moderators of the Effects of Working Hours on Mental Health," Discussion papers 24048, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Working time; Health; Standard workweek; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

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