| Abstract | This paper quantifies the impact of health on labour force participation, using South Africa as a  case  study.  This  is  important  given  the  essential  role  the  labour  market  plays  in  economic growth  and  the  potential  for  poor  health  to  adversely  affect  labourmarket  outcomes.  South Africa  has  experienced  significant  disease  burden  especially  due  to  communicable  diseases like  HIV/AIDS  and  tuberculosis.  Moreover,  conditions  like  obesity  remain  a  public  health concern. Furthermore, the country has witnessed declining labour force participation in recent years. These health and labour market outcomes, coupled with relatively scant literature on the impact  of  health  on  the  labour  market  in  South  Africa,  motivate  this  study.  Data  is  sourced from  the  first  and  third  waves  of  the  National  Income  Dynamics  Study,  a  nationally representative panel dataset of South African households and a rich source of health and socio-economic  data.  Endogenous  treatment  of  self-assessed  health  in  a  contemporaneous  setting suggests positive and significant impact of health on labour force participation. The hypothesis of  exogeneity  of  self-assessed  health  in  a  labour force  participation  equation  is  however  not rejected. Finally, positive and significant association between health and LFP persists even four years after health assessment. |