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Unemployment and self-rated health in Ghana: are there gender differences?

Iddisah Sulemana (Department of Economics, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana)
Ebenezer Bugri Anarfo (Business School, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Achimota, Ghana)
Louis Doabil (Business School, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Achimota, Ghana)

International Journal of Social Economics

ISSN: 0306-8293

Article publication date: 25 September 2019

Issue publication date: 4 October 2019

303

Abstract

Purpose

A large extant literature examines the association between unemployment and self-rated health. Most of these studies reveal that unemployment diminishes self-rated health. Another strand of this literature, albeit sparse, suggests that the relationship between unemployment and self-rated health is gendered. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine whether unemployment is correlated with self-rated health in Ghana; and second, to explore whether and to what extent men differ from women on the basis of this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used data from the Wave 6 of World Values Survey in Ghana (n=1552) and probit and instrumental variable probit regressions to empirically examine the association between unemployment and self-rated health in Ghana.

Findings

The results confirm that unemployment is negatively correlated with self-rated health among Ghanaians. Specifically, the unemployed are about 6.84–7.20 percent less likely to report good health status in a pooled sample. Further, after correcting for endogeneity, unemployed men are about 26.68 percent less likely to report good health. However, the association is not statistically significant for unemployed women.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence from Ghana.

Keywords

Citation

Sulemana, I., Anarfo, E.B. and Doabil, L. (2019), "Unemployment and self-rated health in Ghana: are there gender differences?", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 46 No. 9, pp. 1155-1170. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-03-2018-0166

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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