Is Being Employed Always Better for Mental Wellbeing Than Being Unemployed? Exploring the Role of Gender and Welfare State Regimes during the Economic Crisis.

Imma Cortès-Franch,Hernán Vargas-Leguás,Lucía Artazcoz,Vanessa Puig-Barrachina,M Marta Arcas

doi:10.3390/ijerph16234799

Abstract

The growth of poor jobs related to economic crisis adds to its increase since the mid-1970s as a result of new forms of flexible employment. In Europe, there is no clear evidence on whether working in a poor-quality job is better for mental wellbeing than being unemployed. The objectives of this study were to compare mental wellbeing between the unemployed and those working in jobs with different quality levels and to examine gender and welfare state differences in Europe. We selected 8324 men and 7496 women from the European Social Survey, 2010. Hierarchical multiple logistic regression models were fitted, separated by sex and country group. No significant differences in mental wellbeing were shown between unemployed-non-active, unemployed-active, and those working in low-quality jobs in either sex. Only men from Conservative countries in low-quality jobs had better mental wellbeing than unemployed (non-active) men. Only having a good-quality job reduced the likelihood of poor mental wellbeing compared with being unemployed (non-active) among men in all countries (except Social-Democratic) and among women in Eastern and Southern European countries. No differences were observed among men or women in Social-Democratic countries, while strong gender differences were found in Conservative and Liberal countries. Our study indicates the need to take job quality into account, in addition to creating jobs during economic crises. The main mechanisms to explain the strong gender and welfare state differences identified could be social protection for unemployed, labor market regulations, and family models.

Highlights

The global economic crisis has returned the spotlight to the debate on the quantity and quality of jobs, but the introduction of the health perspective in this discussion is fairly recent
In the remaining country typologies, the prevalence of poor mental wellbeing was higher among women, with the greatest gender differences being observed in Liberal countries
(2) Only having a good-quality job reduced the likelihood of poor mental wellbeing compared with being unemployed: This result was found among men in all countries, that is, 19 out of 22 countries, and among women in Eastern and Southern European countries

Summary

Introduction

The global economic crisis has returned the spotlight to the debate on the quantity and quality of jobs, but the introduction of the health perspective in this discussion is fairly recent. Previous studies analyzing job quality have indicated that low-quality jobs and precariousness are related to poor mental wellbeing [6]. The few studies that question whether getting a job, regardless of its quality, improves the mental wellbeing of the unemployed population, tend to show that low-quality jobs have a similar or even worse effect than unemployment. These studies were conducted mainly outside Europe (Australia and the USA) [8,9,10,11,12]. As far as we know, no studies have analyzed this question at the European level, nor have they compared different welfare state typologies

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion