The Impact of Unemployment on Health Status: The Case of Turkey

This study aims to investigate the impact of unemployment on health hazards in Turkey by using a set of income and living conditions panel datasets from 2013 to 2016. Firstly, we examine the effect of unemployment on health status using a generalised ordered logit model. Unlike most of the existing literature, this study finds that unemployed individuals are more likely to be healthier. We perform a robustness check using the accelerated failure time model. We also estimate the change in health status with health spell by controlling for gender, age, marital status, education level, household income, and number of earners in the household. We find that the coefficient estimate of the transition from better to worse health has longer survival duration for unemployed individuals.