Husband’s labour supply after a breast cancer diagnosis

Abstract

This paper evaluates the spillover effects on the males’ labour supply after their partner was diagnosed with breast cancer. We use Dutch administrative monthly data for the period 2006-2012. The estimates indicate that husbands are 0.71 percentage points less likely to be employed due to the diagnosis of their wife. It implies that the negative caregiving effect is stronger than the positive income effect on the males’ labour supply. Furthermore, the estimates suggest that effect is related to the employment status of the women prior to the medical diagnosis. If the women were employed at the moment of the diagnosis of breast cancer, their husbands would reduce their employment on average by 0.86 percentage points after the diagnosis. In contrast, there was no change of the husbands’ employment in case their partner was not employed at the moment of the diagnosis of breast cancer. Those differences can be explained by the sickness leave arrangements in the Netherlands, which mitigate the negative consequences on the incomes of the women who become sick.