The Long-Term Effects of Cancer on Employment and Earnings

The study examines long-term effects of cancer on the work status and annual earnings of cancer survivors who had a strong attachment to the labor market prior to their cancer diagnosis. We use linkage data combining Canadian 1991 Census microdata with administrative records from the Canadian Cancer Registry, the Vital Statistics Registry and longitudinal personal income tax records. We estimate changes in the magnitude of cancer effects during the first 3 years following the year of the diagnosis using a large sample of cancer survivors diagnosed at ages 25 to 61. The comparison group consists of similar workers never diagnosed with cancer. The empirical strategy combines coarsened exact matching and regression models to deal with observed and unobserved differences between the cancer and comparison groups. The results show moderate negative cancer effects on work status and annual earnings. Over the 3-year period following the year of the diagnosis, the probability of working is 5 percentage points lower for cancer survivors than for the comparison group, and their earnings are 10% lower. Our findings also suggest that the effects of cancer on labor market outcomes differ for high and low survival rate cancer categories. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.