The stratifying role of job level for sickness absence and the moderating role of gender and occupational gender composition

- Sickness absence is strongly stratified by job level in Germany.
- The strength of the link is moderated by gender and occupational gender segregation.
- Four competing hypotheses are developed and tested.
- We apply a new Bayesian method for evaluating multiple hypotheses simultaneously.
- The link is strongest for men in female and women in male-dominated occupations.

The study investigates whether sickness absence is stratified by job level - understood as the authority and autonomy a worker holds - beyond the association with education, income, and occupation. A second objective is to establish the moderating role of gender and occupational gender composition on this stratification of sickness absence. Four competing hypotheses are developed that predict different patterns of moderation. Associations between job level and sickness absence are estimated for men and women in three groups of differing occupational gender composition, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). For the purpose of moderation analysis, this study employs a new method based on Bayesian statistics, which enables the testing of complex moderation hypotheses. The data support the hypothesis that the stratification of sickness absence by job level is strongest for occupational minorities, meaning men in female-dominated and women in male-dominated occupations.