• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

IZA Newsroom

IZA – Institute of Labor Economics

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Press Lounge
  • DE
  • EN
ResearchNovember 22, 2013

People who play sports do better on the job

Does playing sports or going to the gym help your career? In a new IZA discussion paper, Paul Downward and Michael Lechner investigate effect of sports participation on employment and earnings for England. The study is based on a unique dataset measuring participation in different types of sports, various labor market outcomes, and the availability of local sports facilities.

Downward and Lechner find a clear and positive association between labor market outcomes and sports participation, even when accounting for such factors as health or family composition, which could affect both sports participation and labor market success. The results suggest that sports has a positive effect on initial employment and on income opportunities at higher ages. Different types of sports have different effects: While participation in team sports is broadly associated with increased employability, fitness and outdoor activities have stronger associations with income.

Featured Paper:

IZA Discussion Paper No. 7690 Heterogeneous Sports Participation and Labour Market Outcomes in England Michael Lechner, Paul Downward

Share this article

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share via e-mail
  • employability
  • employment
  • health
  • income
  • labor market
  • sports
  • sports participation
  • team sports
  • Michael Lechner
  • Paul Downward
Previous Post
Shuffle
Next Post

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

COVID-19 and the Labor Market

covid-19.iza.org

Recent Posts

  • June 24, 2022

    Minimum wage increases lead to substantial declines in vacancy postings
  • May 23, 2022

    Minimum wage contributed to rise in solo self-employment
  • May 17, 2022

    Employer market power in Silicon Valley

Related Content

  • February 20, 2015

    Sports and exercise boost labor market performance and earnings
  • 
  • 
  • Archive
  • 
  • Research
  • 
  • People who play sports do better on the job

© 2013–2022 Deutsche Post STIFTUNGImprint | Privacy PolicyIZA