A Comparative Perspective on the Relationship Between Job Insecurity and Health

• In Event: 256 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 18. Work and Well-Being

Abstract

Insecurity and uncertainty are common features in today’s workplace. The perceived threat of job loss is an important type of insecurity that has consequences for workers that extend beyond the workplace, with a growing number of studies focusing on health-related outcomes. Recent studies consistently find that workers who feel insecure in their jobs are likely to suffer negative physical and mental health effects, including general health decline, depression, high blood pressure, and heart attacks. Additionally, the perceived threat of job loss may actually have stronger health effects than the actual experience of job loss. However, previous studies tend to focus on this relationship a limited number of countries, leaving open the question of whether (and how) the insecurity-health relationship varies cross-nationally. In this study, we examine cross-national differences in the relationship between two types of insecurity about one’s job and health in a sample of 27 European countries. We consider two explanations for these differences: welfare regimes and worker autonomy. Using data from the 2010 European Social Survey, we test these theoretical expectations using multilevel models of self-rated health. The results indicate that the relationship between job insecurity and health varies across countries in Europe, and welfare regimes help explain part of this variation. However, the welfare regime differences are not always in the expected direction.

Authors

• Andrew S. Fullerton, Oklahoma State University

• Destinee B. McCollum, Oklahoma State University

• Jeffrey C. Dixon, College of the Holy Cross