Abstract
The overall aim of this thesis is to study the potential causes and effects of mobility on the
labour market among individuals with reduced work ability or who experience long-term
sick leave. Long-term sick leave is associated with an increased likelihood of mobility out
of the labour market. Changing jobs has been discussed as a strategy to extend participation
in the labour force when the work ability is reduced in relation to the current job. The
studied time periods ranged from 1994 to 2010, and all studies were conducted in Sweden.
In study I, registry data from the longitudinal integration database for health insurance and
labour market studies (LISA) were used to investigate whether job change affected the
likelihood of remaining in the labour market among people who experienced long-term sick
leave. Among the individuals with over 180 days of absence in the first year, those who
changed their job during the following year had a higher likelihood of having a job 2–4
years later than individuals who remained in the same job.
In Study II, the LISA data were used to examine whether differences in the number of
absences due to sickness between workplaces can be explained by the health selection of
recruits. The results showed that workplaces with high average levels of sick leave were more
likely to hire a person with a high rate of sick leave the year before their recruitment than
workplaces with low average levels ofsick leave.
In Study III, the LISA data were used to study individual and workplace factors predicting
job change and exit from the labour market among individuals who experienced long-term
sick leave. The results showed that both the workplace and individual characteristics
predicted job change and exit.
In Study IV, data from the Stockholm Public Health Cohort were used to examine if demand,
control, support and physical strain, as well as the type of employment contract, affected the
probability of whether employees with a reduced work ability would change jobs or leave the
labour market. The results showed that temporary employment contracts increased the
likelihood of both change and exit. Low job control (women) and physically strenuous work
(men) increased the probability of exit but not job change. Among women, physically stenous
work predicted both outcomes.
