Essays on the Economics of Sickness Absence, Working Conditions and Health in the Labor Market
For Germany, one of the most crucial challenges in the next years will be to overcome the shortage of skilled workers in an ageing society. One possible measure is to promote activation and retention of health-impaired individuals. Thus, understanding relevant institutions is key to balance social protection and employment promotion for health-impaired or disabled individuals.
This dissertation aims to shed light on the consequences of health shocks and the role of working conditions in the form of health-related institutions for including and retaining health-impaired workers in the German labor market. It starts with an analysis of how dismissal protection affects workers’ long-term sickness absences and the probability of involuntary unemployment after sickness (Chapter 1).
Thereafter, Chapter 2 investigates whether the disabled worker quota in Germany and its noncompliance fine affect firm demand for disabled workers.
Finally, Chapter 3 studies the individual effects of disability onset on labor market outcomes.
In the overall conclusion, the key insights of the dissertation, possible policy implications and starting points for future research are discussed. Specifically, the author draws conclusions on the labor market institutions dismissal protection, disability policies and threshold regulations in German labor law, and discusses the relevance of administrative data in this context.
