Research Article

Local Labor Market Fluctuations and Physical Activity among Adults in the United States, 1990–2009

Table 4

Estimated associations between past local labor market conditions and concurrent physical activity.

Hours of physical activity per monthAny physical activity in the survey monthHours of physical activity per month among existing exercisers (hours > 0)Hours of physical activity per month among regular exercisers (hours ≥ 10)

1-month lag county unemployment rate−0.1578***−0.0012**−0.1720***−0.1668***
(0.0271)(0.0004)(0.0347)(0.0405)
2-month lag county unemployment rate−0.0853**−0.0004−0.1098**−0.1039**
(0.0274)(0.0004) (0.0344)(0.0394)
3-month lag county unemployment rate−0.02300.0002−0.0488−0.0400
(0.0276)(0.0004)(0.0343)(0.0384)

Note. (a) Individual data is from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 1990–2009 waves. (b) Monthly county unemployment rate is from US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. (c) The treatment variable in all models is lagged monthly county unemployment rate. (d) All models are OLS and control for individual characteristics (i.e., gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, and marital status) and county and year/month fixed effects. (e) Estimated standard error of coefficient is in parentheses. Eicker-Huber-White sandwich estimator is used to calculate standard error clustered at county level. (f) * , ** , *** .