OBESITY AND EMPLOYMENT: THE CASE OF ICELAND

• Main Author: Tinna Laufey Asgeirsdottir
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Obesity; Employment; Discrimination; Iceland1. INTRODUCTION; Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.399.9899; http://www.econ.ku.dk/Kalender/seminarer/institutseminar31052010/Obesity_Employment_KU.pdf/

The effect of obesity on labor-market outcomes has been studied to some extent, as well as the related effects of beauty and health. Generally, results have differed by gender. Limited effects have been found for males, while obesity is found to affect females negatively in the labor market. The case of Iceland is interesting as many would argue that the labor-market behavior of the genders differs less in Iceland that in most other countries. Female labor-force participation is very high and female educational attainment is considerable. Females participate in politics and Icelanders were the first in the world to elect a female president. In the current study, survey data collected by Gallup Iceland in 2002 are used to examine the direct effect that weight has on employment within this political and social setting. Results indicate that, as in other less genderequalized countries, weight has a negative and statistically significant effect on female employment while no relationship is found between male employment and obesity. Results controlling for the potential endogeneity of weight, show very slight differences from the general results that do not control for endogeneity. Hausman tests suggest that the causal pathway of the sizable effect found for women runs from body weight to employment. This is consistent with, although not sufficient for, the hypothesis of discrimination in the labor market.