The limited empirical evidence on sickness absence among immigrants indicates that non-Western immigrants have a higher incidence of sickness-related absence than natives. The purpose of this article is to examine whether health is a contributing factor to the immigrant-native sickness absence gap. The present article makes use of two data sources: register data (FD-trygd) with labour market and long-term sickness absence information linked to a cross-section questionnaire survey on health: The Oslo Health Study, which was conducted in 2000-2001 (N = 14,114). The findings in this article show that non-Western immigrants have a higher incidence of long-term sickness absence than natives. For both women and men, the differences in long-term sickness absence between non-Western immigrants and natives can be explained by poorer self-reported health among immigrants. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Self-reported health Long sickness absence immigrants

working conditions health status immigrant labor market migrant worker public health