Employment status and impact on mental wellbeing in the UK working age population: a cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

BackgroundGlobal evidence suggests that exposure to non-permanent or precarious employment can have negative effects on mental wellbeing, but research from the UK is sparse. This study explored whether these findings were applicable to the UK working population. As the employment market is evolving with more precarious working opportunities, we also ascertained whether any type of employment contract arrangement was more beneficial to mental wellbeing than being unemployed. MethodsWe retrospectively analysed the Understanding Society Wave 7 dataset (anonymous pan-UK dataset from 2015). In this study, we only included respondents aged 18–64 years, in paid employment or unemployed (n=18 525, 8473 men, 10 052 women). We used the seven components of, and the overall, Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Score. A score lower than 18·82 determined low mental wellbeing. Part-time contracts were defined as working 30 h or less per week. To examine the associations between the respective employment statuses (contract types, in or out of employment) and mental wellbeing, we did a χ2 analysis and calculated odds ratios (adjusted for age group and gender). FindingsThe prevalence of low mental wellbeing was highest in those unemployed (30·1%, n=438/1457), followed by those in non-permanent (14·3%, n=135/945) and permanent (12·1%, n=1943/16 123) employment arrangements. Compared with individuals employed on permanent contracts, those in non-permanent arrangements were more likely to report struggling to deal with problems (odds ratio 1·26, 95% CI 1·01–1·58, p=0·042), being unable to make up their mind (1·57, 1·20–2·06, p=0·001) or think clearly (1·35, 1·06–1·72, p=0·014), and report not feeling close to others (1·48, 1·21–1·81, p<0·0001). The association between contract types (permanent vs non-permanent) and low mental wellbeing was not significant (1·16, 0·96–1·40, p=0·13) as were the associations between contract types and future optimism, feeling useful, or feeling relaxed. Unemployed individuals were more likely to report low mental wellbeing than permanent (3·07, 2·72–3·47, p<0·0001), non-permanent (2·59, 2·09–3·21, p<0·0001), full-time (3·16, 2·79–3·58, p<0·0001), or part-time (2·60, 2·25–3·01, p<0·0001) workers. InterpretationPrecarious employment is associated with components of poorer mental wellbeing. However, the strongest associations for low mental wellbeing are observed in currently unemployed people. To understand and explore these complex relationships in greater detail, longitudinal research is required. FundingNone.