5.2  Chronic disease and labour market outcome

Not only do those with certain chronic diseases participate less in the labour market, Table 4 shows that those who do participate seem more likely to work part-time than those who have not been diagnosed with a chronic disease. The largest difference is for those who have had a stroke. About a third (33%) of those people who have had a stroke and who are participating in the labour market work part-time, compared to only 19% of all participating respondents. The previous analysis was therefore developed to examine the impact of chronic disease on level of participation, once other factors are controlled for.

Source: SoFIE Waves 1-3 Version 4, standard longitudinal weights (*adjusted longitudinal weights), Statistics New Zealand

Note: See footnote on Table 1.

Table 5 summarises the odds ratios from the model. The model with an indicator of any chronic disease presence indicates that, even after controlling for other factors, having a chronic disease is also associated with a larger reduction in the odds of working full-time (relative to being inactive) compared to part-time (relative to being inactive). The odds of a person with one or more chronic diseases working full-time (relative to being inactive) are around 34% lower than those for a person without a chronic disease; however, the odds of a person with one or more chronic diseases working part-time (relative to being inactive) are around 27% lower than those for a person without a chronic disease.

The results of the model including each individual chronic disease indicate that even after controlling for other factors, the presence of diabetes, stroke and psychiatric conditions (which are associated with a significant reduction in the odds of participation) are also associated with a larger reduction in the odds of working full-time (relative to being inactive) compared to part-time (relative to being inactive).[22] As an example, the odds of a person with a stroke working full-time (relative to being inactive) are around 67% lower than those for a person without a stroke. However, the odds of a person with a stroke working part-time (relative to being inactive) are only around 39% lower than those of someone without a stroke. The effect for high blood pressure and heart disease (the other two diseases which were found to be significantly related to participation) is the reverse, with the impact of working full-time (relative to being inactive) being less than the impact of working part-time (again relative to being inactive). However, the differences between the effects for full-time and part-time for high blood pressure were not found to be significant at the 95% level.

For those with asthma, high cholesterol, migraine or cancer the odds of being in each of the employment states are not significantly different from those without these diseases (relative to being inactive).[23]

Source: SoFIE Waves 1-3 Version 4, unweighted, Statistics New Zealand

Notes:

1. The odds ratios for the summary chronic disease indicator and for individual diseases are derived from different models. Odds ratios for summary chronic disease indicator are derived from Appendix Table D4, while those for individual chronic diseases are derived from Appendix Table D5. The footnotes from that table apply to this table.
2. The following factors were held constant: gender; region; age (and whether 50 years of age or above); highest qualification; study status; marital status; place of birth; ethnicity; children; household income less personal income; years in paid employment; and unemployment rate at the time of the interview.
3. *Significant at the 90% level. **Significant at the 95% level. ***Significant at the 99% level.

Table 6 summarises the marginal effects for each disease. Looking at the result for grouped chronic diseases indicates that an average person with chronic diseases is 5.2 percentage points less likely to be full-time, 0.5 percentage points more likely to be part-time, 0.4 percentage points more likely to be unemployed and 4.3 percentage points more likely to be inactive, than an average person with no chronic diseases.

Turning to the model including the individual chronic diseases shows that, for an average person, having heart disease, diabetes, a stroke or a psychiatric condition is highly significant in reducing the chance of working full-time and increasing the chance of being inactive. For example, for an average person, having a stroke is associated with a 19.9 percentage point decrease in the chance of working full-time, a 5.5 percentage point increase in the chance of working part-time and a 14.5 percentage point increase in the chance of being inactive. So while the odds of working part-time rather than being inactive for those with a stroke are higher than the odds for those without a stroke, the chance of working part-time for those with a stroke is higher than for those without a stroke (ie, some of those with a stroke who do not work full-time work part-time instead).

Source: SoFIE Waves 1-3 Version 4, unweighted, Statistics New Zealand

Notes:

1. The marginal effects for the summary chronic disease indicator and for individual diseases are derived from different models. Marginal effects for summary chronic disease indicators are derived from Appendix Table D4, while those for individual chronic diseases are derived from Appendix Table D5. The footnotes from those tables apply to this table.

2. The following variables were held at the mean value for the whole sample: gender; region; age (and whether 50 years of age or above); highest qualification; study status; marital status; place of birth; ethnicity; children; household income less personal income; years in paid employment; and unemployment rate at the time of the interview.

3. *Significant at the 90% level. **Significant at the 95% level. ***Significant at the 99% level.