Job competition in civil service public exams and sick leave behaviour

Abstract In several countries, a traditional public exam system is the way to secure a job in the civil service. In this setting, candidates have to take and pass exams that involve studying large quantities of material, and this takes up a large amount of time. Candidates who are working while preparing for public exams may find it difficult to find time for both tasks. Thus, they might experience increased stress/anxiety related to the high stakes nature of the civil service recruitment process. In this paper, we investigate the impact of new openings for civil service positions on sickness absences. Using a unique administrative data set on the universe of sickness absences and civil service positions offered in Spain from 2009 to 2015, we find a significant increase in health‐related absences several months before the exam date. In particular, this effect is stronger for individuals working in the educational sector as well as for calls offering a large number of positions. An important element is that our results are mostly driven by stress‐related absences. To corroborate the health‐related origins of our results, we use data on visits to general practitioners and specialists and show a significant deterioration in the health of public‐sector workers. Our results are important from a policy perspective as they highlight the existence of important negative consequences of the civil service recruitment process that have been previously overlooked.