‘This just isn't sustainable’: Precarious employment, stress and workers' health
Introduction
Changes in the form of the employment relationship in Western countries and the growth of various forms of casual and precarious employment are now well documented. In 2003, less than two-thirds of Canadians were employed on a permanent full-time basis, while those in temporary positions or self-employment had grown to almost one-quarter of the workforce (Vosko, 2006). Research on the social and health impacts of these changes is limited. Initial work on the health impacts of precarious employment focused on exposure to physical risks and on psychological stresses at work using the Karasek Job Demand–Control model (Goudswaard and Andries, 2002, Letourneux, 1998, Parker, 2002, Sullivan, 2000, Saloniemi et al., 2004). This article engages with these issues, but adopts a different focus. We examine whether a range of issues embedded in the employer–employee relationship, such as how employees access employment, what they need to do to keep employed, and levels of income uncertainty, create stress and affect mental and physical health. Data for this article were drawn from semi-structured interviews with 82 workers representing various forms of precarious employment.1
This study uses a framework structured around three broad characteristics of the employment relationship: the uncertainty associated with access to future employment; the effort associated with finding and keeping employment; and the support one obtains as the result of being employed. Together, these characteristics interact to create what we have labelled as Employment Strain. Employees have high levels of Employment Strain when they experience high levels of uncertainty in their employment and require greater effort finding and keeping employment. We have shown elsewhere how precarious employment is associated with higher levels of Employment Strain, and how exposure to high levels of Employment Strain is associated with poorer health outcomes (Lewchuk et al., 2006, Lewchuk et al., 2006).
This article explores how the health effects of precarious employment vary across the stages of an individual's life and the factors that heighten the health effects or buffer individuals from the stress related to Employment Strain. We are particularly interested in whether mid-career individuals, defined as those between the ages of 25 and 50, are especially vulnerable to the stress related to precarious employment.
Section snippets
Precarious employment and the concept of Employment Strain
With reference to broader labour market changes, research has taken two directions that are useful in our work: one looks at changing forms of employment (such as the growth of casual, part-time and temporary work) and the other examines work-life balance issues (Hyman et al., 2005, Lewis, 2003, Pocock, 2005, Smithson and Stokoe, 2005). This work draws attention to the health and social challenges that emerge from various forms of non-standard and precarious employment, specifically the
Methods
The data for this paper were collected through a series of interviews in the first half of 2006. The first phase of this project was a population based survey of individuals living in Toronto and nearby communities during the fall of 2005 and winter of 2006. The surveys were drawn from sixty census tracks representing 145,109 households who reported an individual working at the time of the 2001 census.3 Those who completed the survey were asked to
Precarious employment, health and the life cycle
The motivation for this article is the growing phenomenon of flexible employment among mid-career workers and a desire to understand the pathways between precarious employment and health outcomes. It seemed reasonable to ask if mid-career individuals in precarious employment relationships might find this more frustrating than either younger or older workers. Mid-career workers could reasonably have expected to be in more permanent employment at this stage of their careers. For those just
A qualitative analysis of the association between precarious employment and health
A number of factors may mask the association between life stage, employment relationship and health. It has been argued elsewhere that the spread of precarious employment has created new norms for working conditions in general and that this has affected those in permanent employment (Cranford and Vosko, 2006, Quinlan, 1999). If this were the case, one would not expect to find significant associations between health and different forms of the employment relationship. There may also be a lag
Unsustainable to sustainable: differing experiences of precarious employment
During the interviews we paid particular attention to whether individuals wanted to remain in a precarious employment relationship, and if they did not, what their medium term goals were. We asked if they expected they would move to something more permanent or if they expected to remain in their current employment relationship. This allowed us to define three clusters of individuals: those in ‘unsustainable’ precarious employment relationships; those ‘on-a-path’ to more secure employment and;
Stress related health issues: differing experiences of precarious employment
In general, during the interviews we found that precarious workers in both the ‘unsustainable’ and ‘on-a-path’ groups were more likely to report work was stressful in general, reported being tense at work more frequently in the last month, and experienced a range of health problems linked to the employment situation. The ‘unsustainable’ group were more likely to report deteriorating health, while those in the ‘on-a-path’ group reported higher levels of stress and more frequent tension at work
Compromising health: on-a-path workers delay well-being
As well as general experiences of stress from precarious employment discussed above, ‘on-a-path’ workers seemed particularly prone to stress and tension as they sought to move on from their current employment into more permanent and sustainable employment. A range of responses to interview questions suggest that ‘on-a-path’ workers were pushing themselves beyond their health limits in order to improve their employment situation. These workers were compromising their current health in order to
Other health consequences of differing experiences of precarious employment
As well as having different experiences of stress related to precarious employment, the three groups we have identified also exhibited different capacities to deal with a range of other health issues. For those in the ‘unsustainable’ and ‘on-a-path’ categories more frequent pain at work seems to be linked to greater levels of vulnerability, marginalization and exclusion from health benefits. In contrast to ‘sustainable’ precarious workers, those in the other two categories talked about the
Buffers and support: mediating the health outcomes of precarious employment
Other researchers have pointed to the role of social support, at work and outside work, in reducing employment stress and improving health (see for example, House, 1981, Johnson, 1991). A recent study of the prevalence of stress among Canadian workers supports the association between high levels of employment stress, low support and negative health outcomes, finding that “low co-workers support was associated with a higher prevalence of depression amongst both men and women”, while “low
Being precarious in a precarious household
Workers in the ‘unsustainable’ group generally reported living in households that could be viewed as precarious, with a range of personal and household stresses including low household income, lack of benefits, and living with someone also in precarious employment. This precariousness took different forms for workers in different age brackets. Younger workers often lived with their parents and contributed financially to their household. One young call centre worker who had multiple jobs was
Being precarious and isolated
Writers and policy makers who applaud labour market restructuring and related changes in employment argue that self-employment and other forms of precarious employment give individuals greater choice in how they engage in the labour market and how they balance home and work. Our research found little evidence of this. Rather, we found that precarious employment tends to be isolating for most workers and makes it harder, not easier, to balance work and home responsibilities and activities. In
Being precarious without employment support
Sources of employment support that extend beyond the workplace can be crucial for workers in precarious employment relationships. Among our interviewees, those who had ‘sustainable’ precarious work had stronger social/employment networks — those who were in ‘unsustainable’ situations did not. Those who were the most successful tended to be in occupations or job types, and/or have adequate free time, to take advantage of work support structures outside the traditional workplace. For instance,
Having support is crucial, but it is eroding
Our interviewees make it clear that support is central to the health of precarious workers, and to the sustainability of precarious employment. A precarious worker in the ‘on-a-path’ category highlighted its importance: “I could do this for a few more years, but without a support system, without structured support and training from a company… I couldn't continue longer than that.” (5700, 02 May 2006). The interviews allow us to identify the kind of supports that makes a difference, and to note
Conclusions
In this article we examined whether issues embedded in the employer and employee relationship create increased levels of stress and whether those in turn affect mental and physical health. A feature of the growing number of precarious employment relationships in our labour market is that many of the stressors associated with employment such as ensuring more work and predicting future earnings are transferred to employees and moved outside of the day-to-day workings of a single workplace. These
References (31)
- et al.
The impact of atypical employment on individual wellbeing: Evidence from a panel of British workers
Social Science & Medicine
(2004) Marginal employment and health in Britain and Germany: Does unstable employment predict health?
Social Science & Medicine
(2002)- et al.
Precarious employment and health: Developing a research agenda
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
(2007) - et al.
The consequences of flexible work for health: Are we looking at the right place?
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
(2002) The changing psychological contract at work
Occupational Environmental Medicine
(2002)- et al.
Conceptualizing precarious employment: Mapping wage work across social location and occupational context
- et al.
Employment status and working conditions
(2002) Work stress and social support
(1981)- et al.
Getting on or getting by? Employee flexibility and coping strategies for home and work
Work Employment and Society
(2005) Collective control: Strategies for survival in the workplace
Healthy work: Stress, productivity and the reconstruction of working life
European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions, precarious employment and working conditions in the European union
From job strain to employment strain: Health effects of precarious employment
Just Labour
The hidden costs of precarious employment: Health and the employment relationship
Cited by (82)
Sleep mediates the relationship between precarious employment and mental health
2023, Sleep Medicine: XEmployment and mental health of youth in Egypt: Does job security matter?
2023, SSM - Mental HealthEverybody hurts: Self-employment, financial concerns, mental distress, and well-being during COVID-19
2021, Journal of Business Venturing InsightsCitation Excerpt :As a result, self-employed individuals can be more susceptible to worrying about the future of their business, and while several business-related aspects can cause concern, one of the most prominent factors that those who are self-employed experience during times of crisis is financial worry. While crises such as the global COVID-19 pandemic are likely to have adverse effects on perceptions of financial stability for most individuals, the level of financial worry experienced during such events can be considerably higher for those who are self-employed as a result of the inherent volatility and instability associated with self-employment (Clarke et al., 2007; Dalton et al., 2019). Interestingly, our results did not support this line of reasoning, and we did not find that those who are self-employed had substantially higher levels of financial worries than their employed counterparts.
Precarious work in the 21st century: A psychological perspective
2021, Journal of Vocational BehaviorCitation Excerpt :Contrast this with the likely different psychological effects on a White woman from an upper-middle class family who would not face racist social structures and would be more likely to access support from family and friends. Previous research showing differential effects of work contexts across racial, gender, and social class groups supports this contention (e.g., Artazcoz, Benach, Borrell, & Cortes, 2004; Clarke et al., 2007; Quinlan, 2012). Drawing from previous literature bases that address precarious work (e.g., Benach et al., 2014; Duffy et al., 2016; Shoss, 2017; Tompa et al., 2007), we propose that work precarity affects job attitudes, job behaviors, mental health, and identity.
Life-course trajectories of employment quality and health in the U.S.: A multichannel sequence analysis
2020, Social Science and MedicineCitation Excerpt :Finally, workers with poor EQ may have little control over their personal and professional lives (Julià et al., 2017; Kalleberg, 2018); for example, nonstandard working-time arrangements and employment instability may contribute to feelings of powerlessness and insecurity and independently harm relationships (Lewchuk et al., 2008) and sleep (Mai et al., 2019). Moreover, unstably-employed workers may be unable to build the workplace social connections that buffer employment-related stressors (Clarke et al., 2007). Given low social mobility in the U.S. (Bor et al., 2017), most workers' EQ may change little over their lifetimes, suggesting poor-EQ's health effects may accumulate (Amick et al., 2016), manifesting most strongly in later life.