ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two aspects of the relationship between drug use and labour market outcomes: the impact of illicit drug use on labour supply, and the association between drug use and wages. The impact of alcohol consumption on earnings has received particular attention, but there is also concern about the effects of illicit drug use on labour market outcomes. In addition to the potential for simultaneous causation between drug use and wages, there is also some likely heterogeneity because unobserved attributes that affect wages or employment outcomes may overlap with the characteristics that influence an individual's choice to take drugs. R. Kaestner and Zarkin et al. consider the drug use-employment relationship by focusing on labour supply as measured by the number of hours worked. The most important aspect of authors analysis concerns the impact of drug use on unemployment, which suggests long-term harm to employment prospects.
