The impact of obesity on employment

Using data from two rounds of the Health Survey for England I investigate the impact of obesity on employment. I use three approaches: a univariate probit model; propensity score matching; and W regression using a recursive bivariate probit model. Conditional on a comprehensive set of covariates, the findings show that obesity has a statistically significant and negative effect on employment in both males and females. In males the endogeneity of obesity does not significantly affect the estimates, and the magnitude of effect is similar across the three methods. In females, failure to account for endogeneity leads to underestimation of the negative impact of obesity on employment. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.