The Effect of Unpaid Overtime Hours on Health

Do working overtime hours affect worker health? Does the effect depend on whether a worker receives overtime payment or not? In this paper, we examine the effect of overtime hours on health, paying attention to overtime payment. We use gPreference Parameters Study of Osaka University h from 2009 to 2013. The dataset enables us to control observable factors, for example: work environment, individual and household characteristics. Further, panel analysis is employed to remove unobservable heterogeneity. Our result shows a harmful effect of overtime hours to worker health. We also find that overtime hours deteriorate worker health only if the worker does not get paid for overtime.