Estimating the Relationship between Employer-Provided Health Insurance, Worker Mobility, and Wages
September 2002
Working Paper Number:
tp-2002-23
Abstract
In this paper, a joint model of wages, hazard of a job ending, and
probability of holding employer-provided health insurance is estimated,
taking account of unobservable person and job characteristics. A unique
data source, the 1990 and 1996 SIPP Panels linked to SSA administrative
job histories, enables the identification of random person and job effects
and the correlation of these effects across the three equations. The explicit
modeling of this correlation produces consistent estimates of the
effect of tenure on wages and the effect of health insurance on mobility.
Substantial levels of job-lock and significant annual returns to seniority
are found. Increasing the job-specific probability of obtaining employerprovided
health insurance from 60% to 63%, or increasing the job-specific
hourly wage rate by $.80, are both associated with an equivalent decrease
in the hazard of the job ending. However, the dollar value of the wage
benefit is substantially higher.
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:
econometric,
employee,
employ,
insurance,
salary,
medicare,
medicaid,
insurance employer,
pension,
uninsured,
insured
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identified to contain references to specific institutions, datasets, and other organizations.
:
Internal Revenue Service,
Social Security Administration,
Survey of Income and Program Participation,
Cornell University,
Social Security,
National Institute on Aging,
Alfred P Sloan Foundation,
Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics,
Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research,
LEHD Program,
Computer Assisted Personal Interview,
W-2
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