Health Shocks and the Labor Supply Decision of Older Workers: Evidence from Urban China
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Using two different data sources from urban China, we examine the role of health shocks on the labor supply of both individuals suffering from illness and their family members. While deterioration in health status may ultimately mean that a worker may be forced to exit the labor force and that his or her family may suffer from reductions in income, we examine the possibility that availability of health insurance through state and government sector work units leads adults with a history of chronic illness to delay early retirement and remain attached to state sector employment. Next, we examine the impact of the health shocks experienced by family members on the labor supply of working-age adults. We find some evidence that the labor supply of older women is reduced when there an elderly family member experiences illness. The paper makes use of a cross-sectional household surveys from urban China that include detailed retrospective information on the employment, health education histories for all individuals over 16 years of age, and next we use a panel of households constructed from five rounds of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS).
RPRT
Giles, John
2007
1361