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The Effects of Employment on Influenza Rates

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  • Sara Markowitz
  • Erik Nesson
  • Joshua Robinson
Abstract
The seasonal influenza virus afflicts millions of people in the U.S. population each year, imposing significant costs on those who fall ill, their families, employers, and the health care system. The flu is transmitted via droplet spread or close contact, and certain environments, such as schools or offices, promote transmission. In this paper, we examine whether increases in employment are associated with increased incidence of the flu. We use state-level data on the prevalence of the flu from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In our preferred specification, we find that a one percentage point increase in the employment rate increases the number of influenza related doctor visits by about 16 percent, and these effects are highly pronounced in the retail sector and healthcare sector, the sectors with the highest levels of interpersonal contact.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Markowitz & Erik Nesson & Joshua Robinson, 2010. "The Effects of Employment on Influenza Rates," NBER Working Papers 15796, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15796
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    Cited by:

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    3. Gabriele Ciminelli & Sílvia Garcia‐Mandicó, 2022. "When and how do business shutdowns work? Evidence from Italy's first COVID‐19 wave," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 1823-1843, September.
    4. Yun Qiu & Xi Chen & Wei Shi, 2020. "Impacts of social and economic factors on the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1127-1172, October.
    5. Ján Palguta & René Levínský & Samuel Škoda, 2022. "Do elections accelerate the COVID-19 pandemic?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 197-240, January.
    6. Krumel, Thomas & Goodrich, Corey, 2021. "COVID-19 Working Paper: Meatpacking Working Conditions and the Spread of COVID-19," Administrative Publications 327343, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Ján Palguta & Levínský, René & Škoda, Samuel, 2021. "Do Elections Accelerate the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 891, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. John Brownstein & Jonathan H. Cantor & Benjamin Rader & Kosali I. Simon & Christopher M. Whaley, 2022. "If You Build it, Will They Vaccinate? The Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine Sites on Vaccination Rates and Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 30429, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Mounir Amdaoud & Giuseppe Arcuri & Nadine Levratto, 2021. "Are regions equal in adversity? A spatial analysis of spread and dynamics of COVID-19 in Europe," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(4), pages 629-642, June.
    10. Peilei Fan & Jiquan Chen & Tanni Sarker, 2022. "Roles of Economic Development Level and Other Human System Factors in COVID-19 Spread in the Early Stage of the Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-15, February.
    11. Viktor Stojkoski & Zoran Utkovski & Petar Jolakoski & Dragan Tevdovski & Ljupco Kocarev, 2020. "Correlates of the country differences in the infection and mortality rates during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Bayesian model averaging," Papers 2004.07947, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    12. Kristian S. Blickle, 2020. "Pandemics Change Cities: Municipal Spending and Voter Extremism in Germany, 1918-1933," Staff Reports 921, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    13. Lewandowski, Piotr, 2020. "Occupational Exposure to Contagion and the Spread of COVID-19 in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 13227, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Mounir Amdaoud & Giuseppe Arcuri & Nadine Levratto & Marianna Succurro & Damiana Costanzo, 2020. "Geography of COVID-19 outbreak and first policy answers in European regions and cities [Géographie de la Covid-19 et réponses politique des régions et villes européennes]," Working Papers halshs-03046489, HAL.
    15. Colvin, Christopher L. & McLaughlin, Eoin, 2021. "Death, demography and the denominator: Age-adjusted Influenza-18 mortality in Ireland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    16. Gonzalo Castex & Evgenia Dechter & Miguel Lorca, 2021. "COVID-19: The impact of social distancing policies, cross-country analysis," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 135-159, April.
    17. Armillei, Francesco & Filippucci, Francesco & Fletcher, Thomas, 2021. "Did Covid-19 hit harder in peripheral areas? The case of Italian municipalities," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    18. Pawel Dlotko & Simon Rudkin, 2020. "Visualising the Evolution of English Covid-19 Cases with Topological Data Analysis Ball Mapper," Papers 2004.03282, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2020.
    19. Boberg-Fazlic, Nina & Ivets, Maryna & Karlsson, Martin & Nilsson, Therese, 2021. "Disease and fertility: Evidence from the 1918–19 influenza pandemic in Sweden," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    20. Yunwei Gai & Li Feng & Jing Hao, 2017. "Local Labor Market Condition and Influenza Vaccination," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 45(2), pages 181-199, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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