Evaluating Employment Quality as a Determinant of Health in a Changing Labor Market

Abstract

The shifting nature of employment in recent decades has not been adequately examined from a public health perspective. To that end, traditional models of work and health research need to be expanded to include the relational and contractual aspects of employment that also affect health. We examine the association of three health outcomes with different types of employment in the contemporary U.S. labor market, as measured by a multidimensional construct of employment quality (EQ) derived from latent class analysis. We find that EQ is associated with self-rated health, mental health, and occupational injury. Further, we explore three proposed mediating mechanisms of the EQ-health relationship (material deprivation, employment-related stressors, and occupational risk factors), and find each to be supported by these data.