Precarious work and male depression

New study finds gender differences in the risk of receiving a disability pension: precarious work increases depression-based disability among male employees.

Recent research has established precarious work as a social determinant of health with potentially many detrimental effects. Precarious work is a multidimensional phenomenon that for example encompasses temporary contracts, spells of unemployment, poor prospects, and low income.

A growing body of evidence indicates that work under such conditions not only represents social and economic vulnerability, but also a potent occupational health risk. However, relatively little is known about precarious work and its association with work-related disability and its causes.

Research problem

In a recent research project funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund, we investigated the association between precarious labour market position and receipt of a disability pension (DP) in the context of the Finnish wage- and salary-earning population (Py?ri? et al., 2021, in press). We analyzed whether precariousness is associated with receiving DP due to depression and whether this differs according to gender.

Precarious work was measured with five variables that reflect both subjective and objective job insecurity:

• the threat of dismissal/unemployment;
• poor employability;
• low earnings;
• previous unemployment;
• and temporary contract.

?Hypotheses

We hypothesized that precariousness – especially poor employability – predicts future disability. We also hypothesized that precariousness differentiates the risk of receiving DP between women and men, in particular DP based on depression.

Data and methods

We used Statistics Finland’s Quality of Work Life Surveys that were merged with register-based DP data, and compared the insecurity measures’ (the variables listed above) Cox proportional hazard ratios for receiving DP among women and men, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, working conditions and health at baseline.

Results

According to the result, the overall risk of receiving DP tended to increase as precarious job features accumulated. Among men, a higher risk of receiving DP due to depression was associated with previous unemployment and poor employability, whereas no corresponding association was found among women.

The disadvantage that men had in this regard was statistically significant even after controlling for key sociodemographic background variables, baseline depression and long-term illness, as well as various factors related to working conditions. It seems that the detrimental effects of unemployment and the fear of job loss are greater for men than for women.

Conclusions

Job insecurity may pose a threat to men’s masculine self-identity, which revolves around paid work and the breadwinner status. Unemployment is possibly more stigmatizing and harmful to men than it is to women, who benefit from more inclusive social networks and social support outside the workplace.

Practical implications

Precarious work may reflect a psychological stress mechanism that predisposes the individual to mental health problems, predicting future disability. A positive attitude towards job opportunities is an important coping mechanism for an individual, whereas cynicism about the future often has the opposite effect. Promoting employability at workplace and policy levels could offset the health risks associated with precariousness.

Original research article

Py?ri?, Pasi & Ojala, Satu & N?tti, Jouko (2021) Precarious Work Increases Depression-based Disability among Male Employees. European Journal of Public Health. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab119

Further reading

Ojala, Satu & Py?ri?, Pasi (2019) Precarious Work and the Risk of Receiving a Disability Pension. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 47(3): 293–300. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494818804106

Py?ri?, Pasi & Ojala, Satu (2016) Precarious Work and Intrinsic Job Quality: Evidence from Finland, 1984–2013. The Economic and Labour Relations Review 27(3): 349–367. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304616659190