Obesity, Disability and the Labor Force
Kristin Butcher, Kyung H. Park
In this article, the authors investigate how the rise in obesity over the past three decades is related to nonemployment. In recent years, unemployment rate figures—joblessness among those actively seeking work—have been low by historical standards. At the same time, however, there has been a rise in the fraction of men who are not actively seeking work. The labor force participation of men of prime working age is low by historical standards, and this has coincided with an expansion in the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program.
