The effect of health on the outcomes of the labour market in the world and Ghana to be precise
cannot be underestimated. This study therefore looks at how ill-health, both own and that of spouse,
affects hours of work and wage rate of males and females on the Ghanaian labour market. The data
set used is the fifth round of the Ghana Living and Standard Survey, also known as the GLSS 5. The
Heckman’s two stage method used found out that the impact of spousal health is more prominent in
determining hours of work than own ill-health. Also the effect of ill-health of one’s spouse is very
pronounced for males compared to their female counterparts. The findings revealed that men whose
spouses stop work due to illness tend to increase their labour supply as against those whose spouses
experienced no illness. The result, however, differs to what is observed in the female model. Also,
males who worked or whose spouses worked though sick, supplied less hours of work to the labour
market. It must be noted that morbidity barely influence wage rate except for males whose spouses
experience sickness.