Essays on sickness absence from work

Abstract

This thesis examines absence from work due to sickness in Spain. The first chapter reviews the current state of knowledge related to theory, as well as empirical evidence relating to sickness absence in an economic context. The economic literature has stressed that labour supply factors such as gender and age are important in determining sickness absence, but, according to the empirical evidence, the effect of these two variables is uncertain. Chapters 2 and 3 aim to shed light on this debate by providing empirical evidence regarding the effect of gender and age, respectively, on sickness absence from work. Finally, Chapter 4 examines the contribution of government intervention in occupational health and safety (OSH) in giving rise to spatial differences in the incidence of workplace accidents.