Effects of Self-Rated Disability and Subjective Health on Job Separation

There have been very few studies of the effects of disability or subjective health on job separations for a range of specific reasons. Estimates of the effects of both subjective health and work-related disability on the hazard (i.e. risk) of job separation for twelve reasons are presented in this report. Data are from a longitudinal study of a representative sample of the Canadian population -the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). Both work-related disability and poor subjective health are found to increase hazard of job separation for three reasons: to provide caregiving, due to dismissal, and separations directly attributed to either illness or disability. In addition, work-related disability significantly increases the hazard of job separations due to poor pay, and separations motivated by workplace environmental stress. Non-conventional criteria for judging statistical significance are adopted in this study. Effects that are significant at conventional levels are considered to be of borderline significance here. The positive effect of work-related disability on the hazard of retirement is of borderline statistical significance when control variables identifying type of job are not included as covariates. Subjective health has borderline negative effects on the hazard of job separation to return to school, and on separations from one job to take a different job. These negative effects suggest that poor subjective health may slow the rate of transitions from work to school, and the rate of transitions between jobs. The results are interpreted as being consistent with the idea that workers consider illness and disability when deciding to leave a job for other reasons. Future research should focus on how workers consider illness and disability in job separation decisions that may influence their life course. Future research should also attempt to determine whether effects on dismissal occur because of deficits in the performance of ill or disabled workers, or if patterns of dismissal reflect discrimination against ill or disabled workers. One methodological suggestion for future waves of the SLID interview schedule is to include follow-up questions to determine the immediate plans of those who separate from jobs due to illness or injury Research has demonstrated that poor subjective health and disability increase people’s risk of separation from jobs and the labour force (Crawford 1998; Hum and Simpson 1996; Mutchler et al. 1999; van de Mheen et al. 1999). This research has primarily investigated how health and disability contribute to job separation in general terms, without differentiating between job separations that happen for different primary reasons. The effects of subjective health and disability on job separations that occur for specific primary reasons, as presented here, are of interest in that these effects illuminate one little-studied route through which subjective health and disability impact specific life course transitions. Although job separations necessarily involve movement into new statuses or positions, most previous studies on the effects of health and disability on job separations have not incorporated any information about the destinations of those undergoing such transitions into their analyses. Focusing on reasons for transitions out of jobs is one way to incorporate the destinations of workers into the analysis. For example, many people leave jobs to pursue alternatives to work, and the destination is given as a primary reason for the job separation. Another reason to focus on the effects of subjective health and disability on job separation for specific reasons is because different patterns of effects have different research and policy implications. For instance, the implications associated with the effects of disability on job separation for reason of dismissal are different from those of disability on job separation to provide family caregiving. Effects of disability on dismissal might suggest that persons who have difficulty performing work tasks are at an increased risk of being fired, or that discrimination against disabled workers puts them at risk of dismissal. An effect of disability on job separation to provide family caregiving might suggest that disabled workers who have children at home, or ill relatives, find it more difficult to perform both caregiving and paid work than do workers without a disability. A final reason for focusing on the effects of subjective health and disability on specific reasons for job separation is because the long-term health effects of job separation vary with the reason for the job separation (Pavalko, 1999). The few studies that have differentiated between job separations that occur for specific reasons tend to focus only on retirement (Albrecht 1992; Hayward et al 1998; Henretta at al. 1992). Only one previous study (Crawford 1998) has estimated the association of disability with multiple reasons for job separation. This study, however, did not utilize methods that permit causal inference and the associations observed were not extensively interpreted. Interpretation of the associations between subjective health or disability and job separation in causal terms is dangerous if data on the timing of both factors is not considered because job separation impacts health, and effects differ by reason for separation (Pavalko & Smith 1999). The research presented in this report is the first to assess the effects of subjective health and disability on a wide range of reasons for job separation, controlling for factors that may influence subjective health, disability, and job separation.