The healthy-worker effect: Self-selection among Swedish shift workers

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Abstract
This paper reports a study on the ‘healthy-worker effect’ related to shift work. The study sample comprised 53 male applicants for blue-collar jobs. The subjects who applied for shift work (m = 30) did not differ from those who applied for day work (n = 23) regarding previous illnesses or current symptoms. However, data on self-reported sleep behaviour indicated that a higher percentage of prospective shift workers had a less rigid sleep pattern than did prospective day workers. The results suggest that there might be a self-selection to shift work by individuals with specific sleep behaviours that might facilitate future coping with odd work hours.