Do people become healthier after being promoted?

Journal article: This paper examines the hypothesis that greater job status makes a person healthier. It begins by successfully replicating the well-known cross-section association between health and job seniority. Then, however, it turns to longitudinal patterns. Worryingly for the hypothesis, the data-on a large sample of randomly selected British workers through time-suggest that people who start with good health go on later to be promoted. The paper can find relatively little evidence that health improves after promotion. In fact, promoted individuals suffer a significant deterioration in their psychological well-being (on a standard General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) mental ill-health measure).

Author(s)

Christopher J. Boyce, Andrew J. Oswald

Journal
  • Health Economics
Date of publication
  • 2011
Keywords JEL
I1
Keywords
  • Health
  • Whitehall studies
  • GHQ
  • Locus of control
  • Job satisfaction
  • Mortality
  • Status
Pages
  • 580-596
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 21