The Great Recession and Health Among Employed Workers

• In Event: 515 - Section on Sociology of Mental Health Paper Session. The Economy, Work, and Mental Health

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the health consequences of this major economic event are surprisingly under-studied. In the current study we used the 2010 GSS survey of non-self-employed adults (n = 989) to which we added occupational unemployment and underemployment rates. The model we developed to understand how social status, occupational unemployment and underemployment rates, objective job conditions and intrinsic job conditions affect well-being shows that the consequences of the recession on the health of employed workers are complex and multi-layered. Workers are exposed to different rates of occupational unemployment and underemployment based on social status characteristics. In turn, this exposure is related to objective job conditions that reflect the precarious nature of contemporary employment and employer-employee relationships. While the objective nature of job conditions is then associated with greater perceived job insecurity as well as levels of job demands and decision latitude, the effects of job insecurity on worker health are indirect through the intrinsic quality of work as characterized by job demands and decision latitude.

Authors

• Mark Tausig, University of Akron

• Rudy Fenwick, University of Akron