THE EFFECT OF THE EARLY ENTRANCE TO JOB MARKET ON THE HEALTH STATUS OF THE BRAZILIANS IN 2008

The early entrance to the job market has, among other consequences, a negative effect on the health status of the individual. In 2008, nearly a sixth of the Brazilian population claimed to have started working before the age of 10 and over a third reported to have started working between 10 and 15 years old. This paper aims to investigate the effect of early entrance to the job market on the current health status of the individual. The database provided by the National Survey by Household Sampling (PNAD) for 2008 was used to reach the objective of this paper. The analysis was conducted at national and regional extent using Ordered Logit method. It was evident that delaying entrance to the job market impacts positively on the current state of health. Moreover, it was found that the educational level and personal income increase the likelihood of the individual presenting a better state of health. Distinct effects of these variables on health status were also found when we took into account the regional context. The Southeast and South showed the most severe impacts of child labor on health, as well as the best results in terms of the impact of education and personal income on health status. In contrast, the North and Northeast regions showed the greatest gender disparities related to health status.