Which is Worse for Your Long-term Health, a White-collar or a Blue-collar Job? (Revised Version of "Is a Blue-collar Job Bad for Your Long-term Health?2 [No. 23])

Studies examining whether there are different probabilities of entering a period of reduced physical ability or chronic disease between different occupations are scarce. We examine whether the duration of good health differs between longest-held occupations, using a discrete time duration model. Utilizing micro data for elderly Japanese workers and their respective longest-held occupations, we show that the physical abilities of male blue-collar workers decline more rapidly with age, especially after age 60, than those in other occupations. However, the probabilities of contracting a chronic disease among male white-collar workers increase more rapidly with age than they do for male blue-collar workers. In contrast, there were no significant differences observed between longest-held occupations and duration of good health among Japanese women. These findings suggest that there are differential effects between blue- and white-collar jobs on decline in health over time among Japanese men, but not among women.