title: Does obesity influence labour market outcomes among working-age adults? Evidence from Canadian longitudinal data.
abstract: Although a negative association between obesity and labour market outcomes is commonly reported in many studies, the causal nature of this relationship remains unclear. Using nationally representative longitudinal data from the last six confidential master files (2000/2001-2010/2011) of the National Population Health Survey, we examine the association between obesity and employment participation and earnings among working-age adults in Canada. After controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle factors and time-invariant individual heterogeneity, our results show that obesity is not significantly associated with employment participation but is associated with reduced hourly wage rate and annual income among women by about 4% and 4.5%, respectively. The corresponding results for men show that obesity is associated with about 2% reduction in wage rate and income, but significant at 10% level. However, after controlling for the potential reverse causality bias using the lagged measure of obesity, the effect of obesity on wage rate and income became positive or statistically non-significant. Our findings suggest that obesity is not causally associated with negative labour market outcomes among working-age men in Canada. For working-age women, we find limited evidence of negative labour market outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. Electronic address: slarose3@alumni.uwo.ca.
authors.forename: Samantha L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Larose
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. Electronic address: kkpelits@uwo.ca.
authors.forename: Koffi A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Kpelitse
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Paediatrics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; Children's Health Research Institute, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada. Electronic address: Karen.Campbell@schulich.uwo.ca.
authors.forename: M Karen
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. Electronic address: gzaric@ivey.uwo.ca.
authors.forename: Gregory S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Zaric
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. Electronic address: ssarma2@uwo.ca.
authors.forename: Sisira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002170:Canada; D015984:Causality; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004651:Employment / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000191:economics*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D063508:Social Discrimination / Q000191:economics; D013222:State Medicine / Q000191:economics
keywords: Canada; Employment; Heterogeneity; Income; Obesity; Wages