IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i11p6036-d1162806.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unemployment and Job Search Behavior among People with Disabilities during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Karsten Ingmar Paul

    (School of Business, Economics, and Society, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 90403 Nürnberg, Germany)

  • Alfons Hollederer

    (Department of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Faculty of Human Sciences (FB 01), University of Kassel, 34127 Kassel, Germany)

Abstract

Not much is known about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the labor market experiences of people with disabilities. Since they constitute a generally disadvantaged group in the labor market, it is important to scrutinize whether their position has worsened during these difficult times and how they reacted with regard to their job search behavior. We therefore used data for the year 2020 from a large German panel (Panel Arbeitsmarkt und Soziale Sicherung, PASS), in order to scrutinize the prevalence of unemployment among people with disabilities ( N = 739) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The factors that affected their unemployment status were also analyzed. The study found that people with legally recognized disabilities were more often unemployed than non-disabled people, even when controlling for possible confounding factors such as age, gender, or education. This effect was significant for severe disabilities and marginally significant for minor disabilities. Additionally, the type of disability affected the probability of being unemployed, with cardiovascular diseases, mental illnesses, and musculoskeletal disorders carrying a higher risk. In terms of job-seeking behavior, unemployed people with disabilities reported using some job search methods more frequently than their non-disabled counterparts. However, the intensity of the job search did not differ significantly between the two groups. Further differences were found when analyzing the reasons for abstinence from searching for a job, with unemployed people with disabilities primarily citing health-related factors (with a frequency of over 90%). In summary, health played a pivotal role in determining disabled people’s labor market experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Karsten Ingmar Paul & Alfons Hollederer, 2023. "Unemployment and Job Search Behavior among People with Disabilities during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(11), pages 1-17, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:11:p:6036-:d:1162806
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/11/6036/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/11/6036/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Melanie K. Jones, 2008. "Disability and the labour market: a review of the empirical evidence," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(5), pages 405-424, September.
    2. Kidd, Michael P. & Sloane, Peter J. & Ferko, Ivan, 2000. "Disability and the labour market: an analysis of British males," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 961-981, November.
    3. Maarten Lindeboom & Marcel Kerkhofs, 2009. "Health and work of the elderly: subjective health measures, reporting errors and endogeneity in the relationship between health and work," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 1024-1046.
    4. John Bound, 1991. "Self-Reported Versus Objective Measures of Health in Retirement Models," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(1), pages 106-138.
    5. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Hinz, Julian & Mahlkow, Hendrik, 2020. "Deutschlands Wirtschaft seit dem Corona-Lockdown," Kiel Policy Brief Spezial Corona-Update 1, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    6. Melanie K. Jones, 2008. "Disability and the labour market: a review of the empirical evidence," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(5), pages 405-424, September.
    7. Marjorie Baldwin & William G. Johnson, 1994. "Labor Market Discrimination against Men with Disabilities," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(1), pages 1-19.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Chung Choe, 2013. "Determinants of Labor Market Outcomes of Disabled Men Before and After the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 29, pages 211-233.
    3. BALDWIN Marjorie L. & CHOE Chung, 2010. "New Estimates of Disability-Related Wage Discrimination with Controls for Job Demands," LISER Working Paper Series 2010-14, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    4. Melanie Jones, 2009. "Disability, employment and earnings: an examination of heterogeneity," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(8), pages 1001-1017.
    5. Takasaki, Yoshito, 2020. "Impacts of disability on poverty: Quasi-experimental evidence from landmine amputees in Cambodia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 85-107.
    6. Joaquín Mayorga, 2019. "The labour effect of a Disability Act. Longitudinal evidence from Chile," Working Papers wp478, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    7. Simonetta Longhi & Cheti Nicoletti & Lucinda Platt, 2012. "Interpreting Wage Gaps of Disabled Men: The Roles of Productivity and of Discrimination," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(3), pages 931-953, January.
    8. Melanie Jones & Paul Latreille, 2011. "Disability and self-employment: evidence for the UK," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(27), pages 4161-4178.
    9. Yoshito Takasaki, 2019. "Disability and Poverty: Landmine Amputees in Cambodia," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1118, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    10. Samia Badji & Anne Kavanagh & Dennis Petrie, 2023. "The impact of Disability Insurance reassessment on healthcare use," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1581-1602, July.
    11. Nick Drydakis, 2010. "Health impairments and labour market outcomes," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(5), pages 457-469, October.
    12. Pagán, Ricardo, 2013. "Time allocation of disabled individuals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 80-93.
    13. Giordana, Gastón A. & Pi Alperin, María Noel, 2023. "Old age takes its toll: Long-run projections of health-related public expenditure in Luxembourg," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    14. Thomas Barnay, 2016. "Health, work and working conditions: a review of the European economic literature," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(6), pages 693-709, July.
    15. Bakhtin, Maxim & Aleksandrova, Ekaterina, 2018. "Health and labor force participation of elderly Russians," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 49, pages 5-29.
    16. Maarten Lindeboom, 2012. "Health and Work of Older Workers," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. 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.
    18. Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Molina, Jose Alberto, 2015. "Health status and the allocation of time: Cross-country evidence from Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 188-203.
    19. Sarah Brown & Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2010. "Reservation wages, labour market participation and health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(3), pages 501-529, July.
    20. Asad Islam & Jaai Parasnis, 2022. "Heterogeneous effects of health shocks in developed countries: Evidence from Australia," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(2), pages 471-495, October.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:11:p:6036-:d:1162806. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.