Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/320489 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17895
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study the impact of the Brexit referendum on the quality of employment and working conditions of workers in the National Health Service (NHS). Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) design and propensity score matching to compare NHS employees with a control group referring to occupations less exposed to employees from the European Union (EU) before Brexit. We document that Brexit led to the average reduction of job satisfaction by 1.39% - largest for physicians (2.6%) and nurses (2.4%) - and an increase of both paid (1.75 hours/week) and unpaid working hours (8.3 hours/week). Nonetheless, the effect was heterogeneous despite the general rise in working time. Indeed, job satisfaction fell by 2.6% among British workers but increased by 3% among overseas workers. These changes were accompanied by a comparable reduction in leisure time and a higher likelihood of workers intending to leave their jobs, suggesting broader behavioural effects that may undermine NHS productivity.
Subjects: 
workforce composition
health care workforce
Brexit
workforce motivation
job satisfaction
leisure satisfaction
NHS.
JEL: 
I12
J22
J45
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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