Obesity, Long-Term Health Problems, and Workplace Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study of Australian Workers

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of obesity, long-term health problems and their interaction on three specific aspects of job satisfaction among Australian adult workers. Exploiting longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey for the years 2006-2017, this study estimates overall job satisfaction, pay satisfaction and job security satisfaction using a common set of explanatory variables. Results from both random effects generalized least squares estimation and random effects ordered probit model confirm that obesity has a significant negative impact on workers' pay and job security satisfaction. The results indicate that overweight workers are dissatisfied about their job security compared to normal weight peers. The study results reveal that long-term health problems significantly reduce all aspects of job satisfaction of the workers. However, the results indicate that the interaction of obesity and long-term health problems positively influences workers' overall job satisfaction. Overall, the study findings are in line with the hypothesis that obese workers with long-term health problems have low expectations about their job.