Impact of Health Status and Related Factors on Labor Market Positions of Urban Mature Chinese

Based on the data collected from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, this study examines the associations of health and socio-economic-demographic-related factors with labor force participation in urban mature Chinese aged 40–59 years. We found that that people with self-perceived ill-health were 34 % more likely to retired early than those who self-rated as healthy. The self-assessed ill-health were found to be 105 % more likely to be unemployed than the healthy. Self-reported ill-health was 28 % more likely to be homemakers than healthy people, although the odds ratios between the two groups were not significantly different statistically. Remarkably different from what has been observed in the developed countries, obesity did not have a notable impact on retirement of Chinese urban residents from labor force. Other factors that significantly contribute to the increased probability of being out of labor force were gender (female had high odds ratio for being out of labor force), education level (the lower the education level, the higher the odds ratios), as well as age (older people were more likely to be out of labor force). Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015