A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Economic Costs of Obesity in Europe (2022)

Viinikainen, J., Böckerman, P., & Pehkonen, J. (2022). Economic Costs of Obesity in Europe. In G. Garcia-Alexander, & D. L. Poston (Eds.), International Handbook of the Demography of Obesity (pp. 39-55). Springer. International Handbooks of Population, 12. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10936-2_3

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Viinikainen, Jutta; Böckerman, Petri; Pehkonen, Jaakko

Parent publication: International Handbook of the Demography of Obesity

Parent publication editors: Garcia-Alexander, Ginny; Poston, Dudley L.

ISBN: 978-3-031-10935-5

eISBN: 978-3-031-10936-2

Journal or series: International Handbooks of Population

ISSN: 1877-9204

eISSN: 2215-1877

Publication year: 2022

Publication date: 22/09/2022

Number in series: 12

Pages range: 39-55

Number of pages in the book: 345

Publisher: Springer

Place of Publication: Cham

Publication country: Switzerland

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10936-2_3

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: Channel is not openly available

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/83855

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the evidence on the indirect costs of obesity that result from adverse labour market outcomes (i.e., earnings and employment losses) at the individual level. We focus on empirical evidence covering European countries emphasizing the most recent studies in this field. Research has established three key empirical observations. The first fact is that there is a negative link between excess weight and various labour market outcomes. Obesity is linked to significantly lower earnings, lower levels of employment and higher probability of entering sick leave or exiting from paid employment through disability pension. The second fact is that the negative link between excess weight and labour market outcomes is surprisingly robust across European countries, given that there are substantial country differences in labour market institutions, culture and the prevalence of obesity. However, there are also notable cross-country differences in these relationships. For example, the obesity-related wage penalty seems to be stronger in southern Europe compared to northern European countries. The third fact is that women in Europe seem to suffer less from obesity in terms of lower earnings compared to American women. Thus, the difference in the wage penalty of obesity among women vs. men seems to be smaller in Europe than in the U.S. Again, there is also significant heterogeneity in gender-segregated results by country in Europe.

Keywords: obesity; costs; effects on employment; labour market; labour status; access to employment; wage level; international comparison

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2022

Preliminary JUFO rating: 2