We examine the effect of job displacement on mortality, hospitalization, biomarkers, and health behaviors in South Korea. We find that the impact on health differs between severe and less severe outcomes and also by gender. Men experience little impact on mortality and hospitalization except for an increase in suicide deaths, whereas their biomarkers and health behaviors improve. Women experience an increase in mortality and hospitalization due to cancer, but no significant effects on biomarkers or health behaviors. The study emphasizes the need to consider a comprehensive range of outcomes to accurately evaluate the effect of job loss on health.

We implement a field experiment to examine how part-time work attracts applicants with different productivity than full-time work. In a large-scale recruitment drive for a data-entry position in Ethiopia, either a part-time or full-time job opportunity was randomly offered. We find that part-time work attracts less qualified applicants with lower productivity but stronger preferences for short work hours. Our estimates show this selection effect may explain about half of the typical part-time wage penalty, which is about 25%. A simple model demonstrates how lack of high-quality workers with strong preference for short work hours could explain the experimental findings.