Precarious employment and the risk of serious psychological distress: a population-based cohort study in Japan

Abstract

Gender differences exist in the associations between precarious employment and mental health in Japan. Precarious employment increases the risk of incidence of serious psychological distress at a clinical level, but only among middle-aged men. Given the increasing numbers of precarious workers, there is an urgent need to develop more effective policies for reducing health disadvantages caused by precarious employment.Affiliation:

Understanding the role of work in socioeconomic health inequalities

“…Precarious employment was more prevalent among those with intermediate or lower education, hence, employment status at the labor market introduced social inequalities (11). These results reflect previous reports in Asia that precarious employment increased the risk on serious psychological distress (12) and in Finland where adverse effects were observed for prolonged sickness absence and disability pension for depression, especially among the lower educated and older workers (13). Given the rapid growth in flexible labor contracts in most countries, their impact on socioeconomic health inequalities raises concerns on the effectiveness of current policies and social and institutional systems for temporary employees that will support them to work longer in good health.…”

Sustainable employability – definition, conceptualization, and implications: A perspective based on the capability approach

“…This will in turn contribute to health and sustainability and to an individual's choice and ability to take later retirement. This counts for all workers; particularly for specific subgroups of the labor market -predominantly precarious (often low-skilled) workers -for whom, notwithstanding the trends depicted above, there is a tendency towards a deterioration in working conditions, especially since the start of the economic crisis (30)(31)(32)(33).…”

Precarious employment and new-onset severe depressive symptoms: a population-based prospective study in South Korea

“…Due to increasing competition in the global market, the number of precarious workers has been increasing worldwide (1)(2)(3)(4). Previous studies have reported that temporary workers perceive job insecurity more frequently than full-time permanent workers (5-7).…”

“…A recent longitudinal study in Japan showed that precarious employment in a developed country was associated with serious psychological distress during the 4-year follow-up period (3). As for developing countries in East Asia, one study in South Korea showed that a change from permanent to precarious work was associated with the development of depressive symptoms during a 1-year follow-up period (2).…”

“…Furthermore, employment status in developing countries is not Precarious employment and severe depressive symptoms as stable as in developed countries such as Japan. There have been previous studies on the effect of sex (2,3,11,14), but despite the importance of the psychological burden of being head of household, none of those studies stratified by head of household status. Whether a basis of precarious employment is voluntary or involuntary might be an important factor for depressive symptom, we used being head of household as proxy variable for willingness to be a precarious worker.…”