Multistate models for clustered duration data - An application to workplace effects on individual sickness absenteeism

Sickness absenteeism figures show a relatively large amount of variation ac ross firms and organizations, indicating substantial within-firm correlatio ns between absenteeism records of individual workers. To study the role of firm-specific circumstances and workforce composition, we specify three-sta te, multicycle duration models of work, sickness, and job separation, with workplace-specific fixed effects to account for unobserved differences betw een firms. In the most flexible specification, these fixed effects are sepa rate, nonparametric, baseline hazards for each firm and each type of transi tion. Alternative estimation methods are discussed and applied to individua l absenteeism histories of primary-school teachers.