Uptake of home-based work following a health shock: Evidence from Australia

Summary: A health shock, defined as a sudden decline in one's health condition, negatively impacts various labour market outcomes (e.g., employment and working hours). However, little is known about its association with flexible employment. Using eight waves of an Australian household panel survey (HILDA Survey) between 2012 and 2019, this paper examines the effect of a recent health shock on the extensive and intensive margins of home-based work as one typical form of job flexibility.

Presenter: Mr Shuye Yu (University of Groningen)

Shuye Yu is a third-year PhD student at the University of Groningen. He is also involved in a joint PhD training programme from the Max Planck Institute of Demographic Research. He received his M.Sc. from the University of York and University College London. Shuye’s research focuses on health economics and labour economics, especially the interactions between health and labour market outcomes. He often examines these fields using secondary data in a quasi-experimental design.

Health shocks and household allocation of time and spending

Summary: In every household, important decisions are made on consumption spending and time allocated to work and home production activities such as housework and caring. The level of spending and time allocation depends on various factors such as age, health, family structure and socio-economic conditions. In this paper we study how a health shock– measured as self-reported serious illness or injury – affects consumption spending and time allocated to work and home production activities by the affected person and the spouse.

Presenter: Dr Federico Zilio (The University of Melbourne)

Federico Zilio is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne. He received his PhD degree in 2018 from the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Essex (UK). In 2018 he started a Postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge (UK) before joining the Melbourne Institute in May 2019. Federico's research interests are in the area of public policy evaluation, focusing on the minimum wage and the effects of policies on health outcomes. In his studies, he has examined the health benefits of the Winter Fuel Payment, a UK cash transfer to help elderly people deal with heating costs and the employment effects of the UK National Minimum Wage. Federico has also conducted research on low-paid workers in Australia for the Fair Work Commission. His current work focuses on studying how households respond to health and income shocks.

How much of the effect of disability acquisition on mental health is mediated through employment and income? A causal mediation analysis quantifying interventional indirect effects.

Summary: There is evidence that disability acquisition causes a decline in mental health, but few studies have examined the causal mechanisms through which the effect operates. Using four waves of data from the HILDA Survey, we compared self-reported mental health between people who acquired a disability and those who remained disability-free. We conducted a causal mediation analysis quantifying interventional indirect effects of disability acquisition on mental health operating through two distinct mediators: employment status and income.

Presenter: Dr Zoe Aitken (The University of Melbourne)

Zoe Aitken is a research fellow in social epidemiology at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, leading a programme of research investigating disability-related mental health inequalities. Her research focuses on understanding the relationship between disability and mental health, particularly how modifiable social determinants of health contribute to mental health inequities. Zoe has a strong interest in methodological innovations to improve the quality of research, particularly analytic approaches to address the challenges of observational data.