ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly reviews the empirical literature on the physical well-being implications for workers who work overtime hours or have influence over their own daily work schedules. It introduces the General Social Survey (GSS) data applied and presents descriptive statistics on selected measures of the association between the relevant work characteristics and outcomes. The chapter contains the empirical estimations of the physical health outcomes generated by inflexible work schedules including mandatory overtime work (MOT). It explains econometric analysis, which is useful in isolating the potential effect of inflexibility of work on physical health indicators, holding constant various personal and job. MOT work is a key factor in determining chronic pain or injuries. The chapter concludes by discussing implications of the results for further research and public policy regarding the regulation of work hours to prevent the observed longer run costs not just to employees, but ultimately to employers and society.
