Obesity, Unemployment, and Earnings

IntroductionAfter decades of abundance in Western societies, lifestyle diseases are not a particularly new phenomenon as weight related health problems have become a visible part of many of these societies over the last two decades. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that the number of overweight people has doubled in most European countries over the past decade. (WHO 2003, 4-5, 61-62). Excess weight gain is no longer a concern associated only with middle-agers; these days it is a growing problem among children and young adults as well. Finland makes no exception to these trends.In the past few years obesity has been a frequent topic of discussion in Finnish media outlets and research literature, both in the health and social sciences. Most of the research in the social sciences has focused on the effects of obesity on quality of life. (e.g. Harjunen 2004; Jokinen 1997; Puuronen 2004). As a result, obesity related research tends to have a somewhat negative tone. According to Oswald & Powdthavee (2007), overweight and obese people tend to feel that they are treated differently and posses lower self-esteem than people who are normal weight. Other results pointing to adverse effects of obesity can be found in the sociology of health and social medicine, according to which obese people suffer more from psychological and physiological illnesses than people who are normal weight (e.g. Pietinen et al. 1996; Lallukka et al. 2005; Sarlio-Lahteenkorva & Lahelma 1999). Furthermore, obesity is also related to adult diabetes, blood and heart diseases and shorter life expectancy (WHO 2003; Conley & Bennett 2000; Laitinen et al. 2002). The current research literature points out that weight and self image seem to have a strong connection with gender, and women tend to experience more appearance related pressures than men. Slender physical appearance is usually a way to seek social approval. Research focused on subjective self-evaluation of one's physical appearance indicates that change in body weight tends to be societally more acceptable for men than for women. (e.g. Gossrow et al. 2001; see also: Harjunen 2004; Schmitt & Buss 1996; Rooth 2009). Societal pressure to be thin is thus stronger towards women than men.Relatively little research in Finland has focused on the connection between obesity, socio-demographic living conditions and earnings (however, see Sarlio-Lahteenkorva & Lahelma 1999; Sarlio-Lahteenkorva et al. 2004). However, one can expect obesity to influence not only people's general subjective views, but also socio-economic outcomes. Does weight influence how well one does in the labour market? Does it have the same impact on men than it does on women? What specific factors does it affect? Does obesity have a cumulative influence on social deprivation after controlling for the more traditional socio-economic background factors? In this article we examine the impact of obesity on unemployment and earnings among Finnish men and women. Finland can be considered as an important research context since the Nordic countries are generally devoted to full employment of both men and women. In addition, income differences between men and women are relatively small in Finland compared to most other countries. More specifically, our research topic was chosen on the following basis: First, employment and earnings are core labour market outcomes. Second, following these, if the risk of unemployment is higher than average among obese people, ceteris paribus, it can reflect discrimination in the labour market (e.g. Garcia & Quintana-Domeque 2006). The article is structured as follows. In the first part we conduct a short overview of BMI as an indicator used in weight related research and examine recent changes in the proportion of overweight and obese people in Finland. After that, we explore some of the main differences between population groups as well as examine previous research on obesity and labour market success. …