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Commuting and Sickness Absence

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  • Lorenz, Olga
  • Goerke, Laszlo
Abstract
Commuting is an important and growing component of workers daily life and demands a lot of time. Given the importance of commuting, it is crucial to understand its consequences for different aspects of individual labour supply. In this paper, we focus on the causal effect of commuting on sickness absence from work using German panel data. According to theory, the effect of commuting on the number of workers absence days may be positive or negative. Empirical tests of this effect are not standard, due to reverse causation and lack of good control variables. To address reverse causation, estimates of commuting on absenteeism are derived using changes in commuting distance for workers who stay at the same workplace and who have the same residence during the period of observation. Keeping the workers employer and residence constant allows us to address endogeneity of commuting distance. Our results show that employees, who commute long distances (more than 50 kilometres), are absent more often than comparable employees with shorter commutes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorenz, Olga & Goerke, Laszlo, 2015. "Commuting and Sickness Absence," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113173, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:113173
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    Cited by:

    1. Shvartsman, Elena & Beckmann, Michael, 2015. "Stressed by your job: What is the role of personnel policy?," Working papers 2015/15, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    2. J. I. Gimenez-Nadal & J. A. Molina & J. Velilla, 2022. "Commuting time and sickness absence of US workers," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 691-719, August.
    3. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2022. "Trends in commuting time of European workers: A cross-country analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 327-342.
    4. María José Suárez & Cristina Muñiz, 2018. "Unobserved heterogeneity in work absence," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(8), pages 1137-1148, November.
    5. Lorenz, Olga, 2018. "Does commuting matter to subjective well-being?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 180-199.
    6. Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2018. "Commuting Time and Sick-Day Absence of US Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 11700, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Murong Guo & Kuang Tang & Zicheng Wang, 2020. "Commuting time and sickness absence in China: Rural/urban variations and Hukou impacts," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(1), pages 76-95, March.
    8. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2018. "Long Commuting Time and the Benefits of Telecommuting," Discussion papers 18025, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    9. Mark L. Bryan & Andrew M. Bryce & Jennifer Roberts, 2021. "The effect of mental and physical health problems on sickness absence," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(9), pages 1519-1533, December.
    10. Olga Lorenz, 2017. "Does Commuting Matter to Subjective Well-Being?," IAAEU Discussion Papers 201707, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).

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    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General

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