Abstract
In a context of high job insecurity resulting from social deregulation policies, this research aims to study health and substance abuse inequalities in the workplace from a gender perspective. To this end, a transversal study was carried out based on microdata from the National Health Survey in Spain—2017, selecting the active population and calculating the prevalence of the state of health and consumption, according to socio-occupational factors (work relationship, social occupational class, time and type of working day). Odds ratios adjusted by socio-demographic variables and their 90% confidence intervals were estimated by means of binary logistic regressions stratified by sex. The results obtained showed two differentiated patterns of health and consumption. On the one hand, unemployed people and those from more vulnerable social classes showed a higher prevalence of both chronic depression and anxiety and of hypnosedative and tobacco use. On the other hand, the better positioned social classes reported greater work stress and alcohol consumption. In addition, while unemployment affected men’s health more intensely, women were more affected by the type of working day. The study can be used to design sustainable preventive occupational health policies, which should at least aim at improving the quantity and quality of employment.
Highlights
More than a decade has passed since the financial crisis and the stagnation of the global economy in 2008 began and austerity policies imposed by the Troika based on a political exchange of “neoliberal intergovernmentalism” that forced the member states of the European Union with economic difficulties, especially the countries of the South (Spain, Greece and Portugal), to deregulate the labor market and labor relations [1,2] with the “conditionality” of obtaining financial aid and bank bailouts [3]
If we focus on the multidimensional perspective of this study, previous research has observed elements of job insecurity attributed to the increase in psychosomatic disorders and unhealthy habits, such as the use of hypnosedatives and addictive substances that erode people’s health [55,56,57,58,59,60]
The regression models (Figure 1), would confirm the associations found in the descriptive analyses, to the extent that women were 1.47 times more likely to report poor health perceived by themselves than men and 1.93 times more likely to visit the family doctor
Summary
More than a decade has passed since the financial crisis and the stagnation of the global economy in 2008 (the great recession) began and austerity policies (the great aggression) imposed by the Troika (formed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) based on a political exchange of “neoliberal intergovernmentalism” that forced the member states of the European Union with economic difficulties, especially the countries of the South (Spain, Greece and Portugal), to deregulate the labor market and labor relations [1,2] with the “conditionality” of obtaining financial aid and bank bailouts [3] These policies have led to a radical transformation of industrial relations models and the breakdown of the fragile balances achieved during decades of social dialogue by deregulating the three historical collective mechanisms that have acted in the defense and protection of workers: protection of legality, trade union intervention and business coverage [4]. High unemployment rates in turn erode the bargaining power of workers and their class organizations, feeding back into the spiral of deregulation and deterioration of working conditions and occupational health [14]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
