Research Economic Seminar: Graduating Scarring Effects on Mid-Life Health Conditions

Are initial labour market conditions important for mid-life health inequalities? Using a setting which ensures objective, clinically diagnosed health outcomes, I exploit temporal variation in the unemployment rate at graduation and show that it influences the subsequent mid-life development of chronic health conditions. For those exiting compulsory education, I find that a 1 percentage point increase in the graduating unemployment rate increases the probability, for both men and women of being clinically diagnosed by the age of 40 with diabetes and depression, and for men the probability of developing hypertension. I further document a protective effect of education with no negative mid-life health effects observed for college graduates.