Sara Abrahamsson, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Beyond Hot Flashes: The Career Cost of Menopause
Abstract
Menopause marks a crucial juncture in women's lives and careers. We provide novel evidence on the effects of menopause onset on labor and health outcomes. Combining Norwegian register with survey data from the HUNT study on self-reported menopause age, we apply a stacked difference-in-differences design. Our findings show declines in earnings, increased sick leave, and more diagnoses related to menopause. Additionally, women without symptoms, and those with mild symptoms who seek care, do not experience earnings losses. Moreover, timely healthcare-seeking and treatment onset can mitigate earnings losses. This suggests that policies promoting menopause awareness could alleviate individual and societal burdens.
Sara Abrahamsson is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Fertility and Health (CeFH) at Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, Norway.
She earned her PhD in Economics from the Centre for Experimental Research on Fairness, Inequality, and Rationality (FAIR-CELE) at the Norwegian School of Economics.
Her research focuses on labor economics, health economics, and the economics of education.
You can read more about Sara Abrahamsson here
CEBI contact: Thomas Høgholm Jørgensen