Estimating the impact of disability onset on employment.

This paper examines the impact of disability onset on the probability of employment using an underexplored longitudinal dataset for Britain. It contrasts estimates based on a control group drawn from those not experiencing disability onset - a common approach in the literature - with estimates based on a control group drawn from those who do experience disability onset, but one year after the treatment group. Compared to the non-disabled control group, the control group of later-onsetters is likely to be more similar to the treatment group in terms of unobservables, with the resulting estimates therefore more plausibly interpreted as causal.

Work-related health risks in Europe: are older workers more vulnerable?

Recent policy reforms in a number of countries are extending working lives and deferring the statutory retirement age. Yet such changes may have profound implications for the well-being of older workers if such individuals are more likely to suffer work-related health problems. Using international data from the European Working Conditions Survey for 2005, we test whether older workers (aged 55-65 years) differ significantly from younger workers across a range of self-reported job-related indicators including health risk perception, mental and physical health, sickness absence, injury and fatigue.