Absent from Work? The Impact of Household and Work Conditions in Germany

Abstract

This contribution investigates sickness absences of German men and women from a longitudinal perspective. The article tests hypotheses on household context and paid working conditions as determinants for men’s and women’s absences from employment. The empirical analysis is based on selected waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) between 1985 and 2001. The results of ordered probit estimations confirm that women’s and men’s sickness absences were related to both working conditions and household context. The findings thus indicate the potential empirical relevance of the ‘‘double burden’’ for German women and men. The stereotype of higher absences of women due to family obligations does not seem to fully represent the actual behavior of German employees, at least for the 1985–2001 period. However, the relative importance of specific working conditions and the relative importance of household structure versus amount of time spent in household production differed between men and women.