Interaction of working conditions, job satisfaction, and sickness absences: Evidence from a representative sample of employees

We study the predictors of sickness absences among 2800 Finnish workers responding to the cross-sectional Quality of Work Life Survey in 1997. The data contain detailed information on the prevalence of adverse working conditions at the workplace from a representative sample of wage and salary earners. We show by using recursive multivariate models that the prevalence of harms at the workplace is associated with job dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction with sickness absences. The policy lesson is that the improvement of working conditions should be an integral part of any scheme aimed at decreasing sickness absence.