Understanding Society User Support

Hi Jakob,
thanks for your answer.

length of sickness/injury absence in the question "main reason why you were away from work?" (variable JBOFFY)
It seems unlikely I'll be able to retrieve the length of absence even if I use all waves because of the way the question is formulated.
I read a paper which used this info and the authors stated that the spell of absence was more than a week but less than 6 months++? Is that correct? If yes, where can I find such information.

Thanks
Zoe

If you follow the Annual Event History then you will be able to identify the exact month since last interview when the employment status changed and the reason for the change. Look for these variables in wave 2 and above questionnaires: Notempchk, Empchk, Empstendd, Empstendm, Empstendy4 and Stendreas. The question "Stendreas" asks about "Reason most recent job ended". One of the response options is "Health reasons". The response options are not exactly the same as JBOFFY but close enough - however whether this is acceptible depends on your research question. If you follow these questions across the waves, you will be able to identify the non-employment spells due to health reasons.
Hope this helps,
Alita

Hi Alita. Thanks for your answer. Much appreciated.
I did use the variables you mentioned to help me calculate the number of sick days people were off work. Still, one can't figure the number of days with these variables. The question is asked only once per wave and the other variables give information which are not relevant to my research question.
I thought that maybe the reason for being off work the week prior the interview would have referred to a specific period that the interviewer would mentioned to the respondent. Say, if it is less than a week, then the respondents would answer "other reason" as reason for being off work sick.
Considering how the question is formulated, one can only infer that the spell is less than 28 weeks since beyond such date, the statutory sick pay is no longer paid by the employer. Thanks for your help. Zoe

Hi Zoe,

No, these questions only refer to whether they were off from work during the week before the interview and the reasons for it. You cannot infer the duration of absense from these questions.

On behalf of the team,
Alita

Hi Alita,
thanks for your answer.

It's a pity the duration cannot be inferred. I hope this issue could be considered for the future waves of UK HLS.
Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.

Zoe