Is Health Status a Determinant of The Economic Activity? Some Evidence From Poland

Abstract

Health condition is an important area of social life. Employees in good health work more efficiently and effectively than sick ones. It is widely accepted that health is one of the elements of human capital and a factor in determining the situation of the individual in the labour market. The main objective of the research is to analyse the health status of household members in the context of their professional activity. The working hypothesis assumes that people suffering from health problems are rather economically inactive than unemployed. In the paper an attempt is made to identify factors (related to eg. health) which affect the probability of being economically inactive. To achieve the objective of the paper individual data of household members from the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU‑SILC) conducted by Central Statistical Office in Poland in 2013 was used. The results of the analysis indicate that in general, deterioration of health increases the risk of remaining economically inactive. In the analysis of the order of importance of factors affecting economic inactivity, the ones connected with health turned out to be of the greatest importance.

Keywords

• health
• professional activity
• econometric models