title: Labour market participation after breast cancer for employees from the private and public sectors: Educational and sector gradients in the effect of cancer.
abstract: For employees who get cancer and survive, the probability of returning to work may depend on their ability to work, potential earnings losses if they do not return to work, qualifications and job type, but also on characteristics of the pre-cancer workplace. This paper focuses on differences between public and private sector employees in the effect of breast cancer on the probability of being out of the labour force three years after the diagnosis. We use propensity score weighting methods and a large longitudinal Danish administrative dataset which allows us to control for a wide range of important baseline characteristics such as education, sector of employment, labour market status, income, health, and demographics. We find that the educational gradient in the effect of cancer is significant in the public sector, where the estimated effects are 11.5 and 3.8 percentage points, respectively, for the low- and high-educated. The corresponding estimates for the private sector are 6.2 and 3.2 percentage points and here the educational gradient is only marginally significant. We discuss possible mechanisms behind the large sector gradient for the low-educated.
authors.affiliation: KORA, Danish Institute for Local and Regional Government Research, Købmagergade 22, DK-1150 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: CKol@kora.dk.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kolodziejczyk
authors.affiliation: Rockwool Foundation Research Unit, Sølvgade 10, DK-1307 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: esh@rff.dk.
authors.forename: Eskil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heinesen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018868:Insurance, Disability / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D017149:Private Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057216:Propensity Score; D017150:Public Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D062707:Return to Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Cancer; Disability pension; Return to work; Sector of employment; Social gradient