Occupational Status and Health Transitions

We use longitudinal data from the 1984-2007 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine how occupational status is related to the health transitions of 30-59 year-old U.S. males. A recent history of blue-collar employment predicts a substantial increase in the probability of transitioning from very good into bad self-assessed health, relative to white-collar employment, but with no evidence of a difference in movements from bad to very good health. Service work is also associated with a higher probability of transitioning into bad health and possibly with a lower probability of recovery. These findings suggest that blue-collar and service workers “wear out” faster with age because they are more likely than their white-collar counterparts to experience negative health shocks. There is also evidence that this partly reflects differences in the physical demands of jobs.