The impact of road accidents on the professional trajectories of staff coming to the end of their careers, based on the Gazel cohort

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the short- and medium-term impact of road accidents on the career paths of French electricity board employees (EDF-GDF), with special emphasis on those coming to the end of their professional careers, based on the Gazel cohort for the period 2002–2014. This study analyzes the adaptation strategies developed by firms and victims following such an exogenous shock. It sheds light on the ability of stakeholders to adjust, in a context marked by a political desire to reform retirement, in particular for special arrangements such as those of EDF-GDF. The Gazel database makes it possible to characterize the different types of road accidents in order to analyze their impacts on the changes in the careers paths of professionals coming to the end of their careers. The econometric strategy is based on the difference-in-differences method with propensity score matching. In total, 4,066 people were victims of road accidents during the study period. On average, victims were older, from lower socioeconomic groups, and were more likely to be male. The analysis shows that victims who suffer serious physical or material consequences exit the labor market earlier, likely due to a reclassification mechanism that offers the right to early retirement. Victims of road accidents whose health is not impacted face fewer changes to their career paths.