IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v276y2021ics0277953621001751.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health shocks and couples’ labor market participation: A turning point or stuck in the trajectory?

Author

Listed:
  • Riekhoff, Aart-Jan
  • Vaalavuo, Maria

Abstract

A health shock can have lasting consequences for the employment of not only the individuals experiencing it, but also their spouses. In this article, we complement the individual approach to the impact of health shocks with a dyadic perspective and show how employment opportunities and restrictions within couples are interdependent in the face of severe illness. We investigate whether the association between male spouses' health shocks and couples' employment trajectories depends on household specialization and both spouses' education. Multichannel sequence analysis is applied to retrospective life-course data from the Survey for Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for couples with health shocks and their matched controls (N = 1022). By identifying typical employment trajectories, we find that health shocks are negatively associated with trajectories where both spouses continue in full-time employment and positively with trajectories where the man retires while the woman continues working and where both spouses retire simultaneously. Couples' trajectories differ according to the spouses’ combined education levels. Findings suggest that health shocks may exacerbate economic inequalities within and between couples.

Suggested Citation

  • Riekhoff, Aart-Jan & Vaalavuo, Maria, 2021. "Health shocks and couples’ labor market participation: A turning point or stuck in the trajectory?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:276:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621001751
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113843
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621001751
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113843?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nils Braakmann, 2014. "The consequences of own and spousal disability on labor market outcomes and subjective well-being: evidence from Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 717-736, December.
    2. Itzik Fadlon & Torben Heien Nielsen, 2019. "Family Health Behaviors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(9), pages 3162-3191, September.
    3. Trevisan, Elisabetta & Zantomio, Francesca, 2016. "The impact of acute health shocks on the labour supply of older workers: Evidence from sixteen European countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 171-185.
    4. Datta Gupta, Nabanita & Kleinjans, Kristin J. & Larsen, Mona, 2015. "The effect of a severe health shock on work behavior: Evidence from different health care regimes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 44-51.
    5. Visser, Mark & Fasang, Anette Eva, 2018. "Educational assortative mating and couples’ linked late-life employment trajectories," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 37, pages 79-90.
    6. Pilar Gonalons-Pons & Christine R. Schwartz, 2017. "Trends in Economic Homogamy: Changes in Assortative Mating or the Division of Labor in Marriage?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 985-1005, June.
    7. Stephen Wu, 2003. "The Effects of Health Events on the Economic Status of Married Couples," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
    8. Jeon, Sung-Hee & Pohl, R. Vincent, 2017. "Health and work in the family: Evidence from spouses’ cancer diagnoses," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-18.
    9. Becker, Gary S, 1985. "Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 33-58, January.
    10. Dale Dannefer, 2003. "Cumulative Advantage/Disadvantage and the Life Course: Cross-Fertilizing Age and Social Science Theory," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 58(6), pages 327-337.
    11. Sung‐Hee Jeon, 2017. "The Long‐Term Effects of Cancer on Employment and Earnings," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(5), pages 671-684, May.
    12. Sergi Jiménez‐Martín & José M. Labeaga & Cristina Vilaplana Prieto, 2006. "A sequential model of older workers' labor force transitions after a health shock," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(9), pages 1033-1054, September.
    13. Petter Lundborg & Martin Nilsson & Johan Vikström, 2015. "Heterogeneity in the impact of health shocks on labour outcomes: evidence from Swedish workers," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 67(3), pages 715-739.
    14. Chinhui Juhn & Kristin McCue, 2017. "Specialization Then and Now: Marriage, Children, and the Gender Earnings Gap across Cohorts," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 183-204, Winter.
    15. Joanne S. Muller & Nicole Hiekel & Aart C. Liefbroer, 2020. "The Long-Term Costs of Family Trajectories: Women’s Later-Life Employment and Earnings Across Europe," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(3), pages 1007-1034, June.
    16. Vaalavuo, Maria, 2021. "The unequal impact of ill health: Earnings, employment, and mental health among breast cancer survivors in Finland," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    17. Martin Ehlert, 2015. "Couples’ Strategies after Job Loss in West Germany and the United States - The Added Worker Effect and Linked Life Courses," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 135(1), pages 55-65.
    18. Pilar García-Gómez & Hans van Kippersluis & Owen O’Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2013. "Long-Term and Spillover Effects of Health Shocks on Employment and Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(4), pages 873-909.
    19. Courtney C. Coile, 2004. "Health Shocks and Couples' Labor Supply Decisions," NBER Working Papers 10810, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Costa-Font, Joan & Fleche, Sarah & Pagan, Ricardo, 2024. "The labour market returns to sleep," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Böckerman, Petri & Kortelainen, Mika & Salokangas, Henri & Vaalavuo, Maria, 2023. "Family Affair? Long-Term Economic and Mental Effects of Spousal Cancer," IZA Discussion Papers 16005, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Marie Blaise & Sandrine Juin & Hélène Le Forner & Quitterie Roquebert, 2024. "I care, you clean? Gendered effects of informal care on couple housework and leisure time," LISER Working Paper Series 2024-05, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    4. De Gruyter, Elaine & Petrie, Dennis & Black, Nicole, 2023. "Household donations of time and money in response to a health shock," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    5. Annarita Macchioni Giaquinto & Andrew M. Jones & Nigel Rice & Francesca Zantomio, 2022. "Labor supply and informal care responses to health shocks within couples: Evidence from the UK," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(12), pages 2700-2720, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. De Gruyter, Elaine & Petrie, Dennis & Black, Nicole, 2023. "Household donations of time and money in response to a health shock," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    2. Nicholas A. Jolly & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2023. "Health shocks and spousal labor supply: an international perspective," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 973-1004, April.
    3. Belloni, Michele & Simonetti, Irene & Zantomio, Francesca, 2019. "Long-run effects of health shocks in a highly regulated labour market," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201922, University of Turin.
    4. Simonetti, Irene & Belloni, Michele & Farina, Elena & Zantomio, Francesca, 2022. "Labour market institutions and long term adjustments to health shocks: Evidence from Italian administrative records," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Candon, David, 2018. "The effect of cancer on the labor supply of employed men over the age of 65," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 184-199.
    6. David Candon, 2019. "The joint effect of health shocks and eligibility for social security on labor supply," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(7), pages 969-988, September.
    7. Henri Salokangas, 2021. "Exploring the labor market consequences of psychiatric disorders: An event study approach," Discussion Papers 148, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    8. Jeon, Sung-Hee & Pohl, R. Vincent, 2019. "Medical innovation, education, and labor market outcomes of cancer patients," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    9. Emmanuel Duguet & Christine Le Clainche, 2020. "The Socioeconomic and Gender Impacts of Health Events on Employment Transitions in France: A Panel Data Study," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 449-483.
    10. Ekaterina Aleksandrova & Venera Bagranova & Christopher J Gerry, 2021. "The effect of health shocks on labour market outcomes in Russia [Ageing and unused capacity in Europe: is there an early retirement trap?]," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 45(6), pages 1319-1336.
    11. Macchioni Giaquinto, Annarita & Jones, Andrew M. & Rice, Nigel & Zantomio, Francesca, 2021. "Labour supply and informal care responses to health shocks within couples: evidence from the UKHLS," GLO Discussion Paper Series 806, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Jones, M.A. & Rice, N. & Zantomio, F., 2016. "Acute health shocks and labour market outcomes," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 16/04, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    13. Alexander Ahammer & Gerald J. Pruckner & Flora Stiftinger, 2024. "The labor and health economics of breast cancer," Economics working papers 2024-09, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    14. Anand, Priyanka & Dague, Laura & Wagner, Kathryn L., 2022. "The role of paid family leave in labor supply responses to a spouse's disability or health shock," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    15. Jones, Andrew M. & Rice, Nigel & Zantomio, Francesca, 2020. "Acute health shocks and labour market outcomes: Evidence from the post crash era," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    16. Annarita Macchioni Giaquinto & Andrew M. Jones & Nigel Rice & Francesca Zantomio, 2022. "Labor supply and informal care responses to health shocks within couples: Evidence from the UK," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(12), pages 2700-2720, December.
    17. Wolfgang Frimmel & Rene Wiesinger, 2024. "Sick Happens: The Effect of Worker Health Shocks on Coworkers' Employment and Health Behavior," Economics working papers 2024-12, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    18. Aouad, Marion, 2021. "An Examination of the Intracorrelation of Family Health Insurance," IZA Discussion Papers 14541, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Jansen, Andreas, 2022. "Business as Usual, Karrierebremse oder "Karriere-Killer": Der Einfluss chronischer Erkrankungen auf den Erwerbs-und Einkommensverlauf," IAQ-Report 2022-07, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Work, Skills and Training (IAQ).
    20. Wen, Jiayi & Huang, Haili, 2024. "Parental health penalty on adult children’s employment: Gender differences and long-term consequences," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:276:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621001751. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.